light · friendly · sans · crypto · defi · gradient
DESIGN.md inspired by Aave
Ghost-soft DeFi — lavender #978fff on white, custom Aave Repro sans, pastel gradients in a usually-brutalist lending space.
By webdesignhot · aave.com ↗
$ npx @webdesignhot/design-md add aave
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Accenture Dark hero, white Graphik, and one electric purple — the `>` greater-than mark made into a whole consulting brand. '#a600ff' is always moving forward. Adidas Pure-black sport-utility, AdihausDIN/adidasFG uppercase, three-stripe geometry — the engineering canon for global sportswear. Adobe Creative-suite chrome — paper-white canvas, magenta-to-orange wordmark gradient, and Adobe Clean carrying every product grid. Affirm Honest-money fintech in the dark — indigo #4a4af4 CTAs at near-pill 96px radius, light-weight white headlines, no fine print. AgentKit Three swappable themes for AI agent products — editorial dark, daylight bright, fintech cool-blue. Airbnb Pure-white marketplace canvas with one Rausch coral and Cereal — generous photography, soft pills, modest type. Airtable White-canvas editorial workflow software with full-bleed coral and forest signature cards punctuating a near-black pill-CTA system. Alibaba Electric orange `#ff6a00` + dense merchant grids — the global B2B wholesale floor as a website. Allbirds Oatmeal-canvas eco-minimalism — Geograph sans on warm Amazon Smile-orange CTA, Amazon Ember sans, dense product grids — the canonical everything-store interface. Amazon Web Services Squid-ink navy with Smile-orange CTAs — the densest tile-portal on the cloud-platform internet. American Express White-canvas premium-restraint membership UI — signature Amex Blue accent, near-black editorial type, concierge-tier hierarchy. Anthropic Editorial broadsheet for AI safety — cream canvas, Anthropic Serif body, terracotta clay accent, magazine geometry. Apple White-canvas product theatre — SF Pro Text, 980px pill CTAs, and a single-blue accent system. Apple Music Pink-red gradient hero with album-grid kinesthetics — SF Pro precision, signature `#fa233b` brand pink, glassy dark canvas. Apple TV+ Pure-black cinematic theatre with SF Pro and ruthless minimalism — content as the only voice. Arbitrum Arbitrum Blue on white — Layer 2 chain marketing with Inter sans, structured grids, sophisticated-restraint contrasted with Solana's cinematic. Arc Browser-as-personality marketing — buttery cream canvas, Marlin Soft display, hand-tooled blue-and-coral palette. Are.na Bare grey-and-orange minimalism — a single Helvetica-class sans, hairline borders, and a stubborn refusal to optimise for engagement. Asana Approachable work management in soft purple — Asana Sans at modest weights with a rainbow accent palette and warm sky-tinted whitespace. Astro Cosmos navy canvas with violet-to-orange brand gradient — Mona Sans display, Inter body, Astro''s star-chart MPA framework dressed as an observatory dashboard. ASUS Republic of Gamers red `#cd0000` on black with bold sans — Taiwan engineering meets esports brutalism. Atlassian Enterprise-blue corporate canvas — signature Atlassian Blue, Charlie display type, four-product mark. Audi Vorsprung durch Technik on near-black — Audi Type sans, four-rings precision, and a near-monochrome canvas with `#bb0a30` reserved for sport. Auth0 Twilight-blue dark canvas with TWK Lausanne 300 display + Aeonik body — the original identity-platform aesthetic. Away Editorial travel-luggage DTC — Graphik on white, photography-led, sharp 0px white CTAs over dark hero imagery. Axiom Deep-navy observability with a cyan electric accent — Inter for body, JetBrains Mono for every event label, and a structural grid that reads as logs at planet scale. Axios Smart-brevity in chromatic form — blocky white canvas, Tiempos-flavored Atiza serif, signature `Why it matters:` time-bars and bullet-first prose. Bandcamp Bandcamp Cyan + Helvetica — indie-music marketplace honesty, no streaming-platform polish, no algorithmic carousels. Base Coinbase-adjacent L2 minimalism — coinbaseSans on white, signature electric blue Baseten White canvas with Inter and a signature `#6c5ce7` purple — ML model deployment dressed in approachable workshop chrome. BBC News Signature BBC red (`#bb1919`), Reith Sans + Reith Serif, the global broadcaster authority typography of the world''s public-service news. Bear Off-white canvas, a custom bearsans display, a red bear icon, and tealish handwritten underlines — a Markdown notes app dressed as a Mac Pro magazine. beehiiv Aggressive black-on-yellow newsletter punch — heavy display sans, hyper-flat cards, and a `#ffd60a` highway-yellow that reads like a tabloid front page. Best Buy Yellow price-tag mark, electric blue trust, bold sans — big-box electronics design with Geek-Squad confidence. Binance Trading-floor near-black with a single high-voltage Binance Yellow doing all the brand work — BinanceNova for type, BinancePlex for numbers. Biome A white-canvas Rust toolchain page where one deep azure blue does all the work. Bloomberg Iconic black-orange financial broadsheet — BWHaasHead headlines, AvenirNextPForBBG chrome, terminal-grade data density. Bluesky Sky-blue `#0085ff` on bright white with Inter sans — the AT-Protocol social network rendered as airy, federated, open. Blur Pure-black canvas, neon `#ff8700` orange voltage, and JetBrains-Mono-default everywhere — brutalist NFT trader terminal as competitive instrument. BMW Corporate-blue calm — BMW Type Next on a cream-tinted white, dark navy hero bands, and the M-stripe triplet in reserve. BMW M Performance black on M-blue/M-violet/M-red — the motorsport variant that turns BMW corporate into track-day theatre. Bolt An electric-blue command line for the web — StackBlitz's AI builder on a near-black #1e1e21 canvas, Inter Display, builder's register. Booking.com Deep-blue commerce engine — Bookin Sans on white, yellow CTA voltage, dense booking-funnel maximalism. Booking.com Booking Blue + signal yellow — the deal-finder design language at maximum density, optimized for conversion not contemplation. Bose Pure black canvas, Helvetica restraint, and premium-audio confidence — sound presented as engineering art. Brex Cool grey-blue surfaces, magenta-to-purple-to-indigo gradient, Söhne 600 — fintech as fast, modern, slightly flashy. Brilliant STEM education with playful diagram-energy — warm coral CTA on near-black, custom Brilliant Sans, illustrated geometry as hero. Bugatti French-engineered austerity — pure black canvas, three Bugatti typefaces, and full-bleed photography as the only voltage. Bun Cream canvas with chunky pink accents and the wide-eyed mascot — a JS runtime dressed as a 1970s bakery sign. Buttondown Indie newsletter software in heavy 900-weight Auto Pro — electric `#0069ff` pill CTAs and soft-yellow highlights on a pure-white canvas. Cal.com Open-source calendly with one bold custom font — Cal Sans on a soft `#f4f4f4` paper canvas. Calm Signature `#0066ff` deep blue + Aktiv Grotesk + meditation-deep cool atmospheric calm. Calm Mindfulness in a serif — Calm Cream canvas, soft moonlit blue and forest green, Visby Round display, breathing-pace motion. Capacities Cream-yellow canvas, Inter at 700 with a Crimson Pro serif fallback, and a yellow underline as page ornament — a PKM that thinks like a sketchbook. Capital One Confident-accessible banking — navy authority, one red swoosh, 2px-sharp blue. Cartesia Bright clinical white with a single deep-blue action — voice-AI presented as scientific instrument rather than consumer product. Cash App Electric `#00d54b` green on near-black, Cash Sans monospace-flavoured geometry, and p2p-money youth aesthetic. Casper Cozy DTC sleep brand — Casper navy/indigo ink (`#1e306e`) on a pure-white canvas, deep-navy `#012169` pill CTAs at 32px radius, Calibre body under New Kansas friendly-serif display. Premium that tucks you in. Character.AI Cool zinc canvas, custom atHauss sans, and dark pill CTAs — a roleplay social product dressed in TikTok-grade neutrality. Chase Trust-institutional banking UI — white canvas, near-black ink, bright-blue primary + green secondary CTAs in Open Sans. Chevrolet Gold-cross American classic — Louis sans on white with a `#cd9834` bowtie, a `#003876` corporate blue, and Camaro/Corvette red drama in reserve. CircleCI Light-content CI/CD platform — near-black hero, Inter sans, navy chrome with a restrained CircleCI-green accent. ClassPass Wellness-marketplace energy — coral-pink CTA on warm white, GT America sans, photographed-class-as-hero pattern. Claude.ai Cream paper canvas, Anthropic Sans for body and Anthropic Serif for the headline — an AI assistant set in literary type. Clerk Geist + Suisse on near-black canvas with `#6c47ff` violet CTA — the drop-in-auth dev-tool aesthetic. ClickHouse Near-pure black canvas with electric yellow as the brand voltage — database performance dressed in voltmeter chrome. Cloudinary Media-API technical infrastructure in confident blue — Inter at modest weights with a deep navy-blue brand and a single chromatic accent for media moments. CodeRabbit Near-black AI-review canvas — warm CodeRabbit orange accent, Plus Jakarta Sans, sharp 4px white CTAs. CodeSandbox Pale-lime electricity on a Cohere Stark white editorial canvas with deep green-black product bands and a CohereText/Unica77 type split. Coinbase Institutional-grade calm — pure white canvas, a single Coinbase Blue, and Coinbase Display set at weight 400 instead of 700. Composio Near-black canvas with deep-electric-blue voltage and a 2x2 terminal-mockup hero — agent infrastructure dressed as developer instrumentation. Corsair Yellow `#ffff00` lightning on black with Roboto — RGB-everything peripherals and PC components. Costco Warehouse blue + signature red, Helvetica utilitarian — bulk-buying signage translated to web. Coursera University-blue `#0056d2` on warm-white parchment with Source Sans — the canonical online-degree marketplace. Cursor Warm cream IDE-marketing — `#f7f7f4` canvas, `#26251e` ink, custom CursorGothic display, JetBrains Mono code, vivid orange accent. CVS Health CVS-red heart on a clean white canvas — custom CVS Sans, near-black ink, trustworthy healthcare clarity. Databricks Signature Databricks Red Datadog NationalWeb on white with the iconic `#632ca6` purple — observability dressed as an enterprise dashboard, structurally dense, chromatically restrained, multicolour where the data demands it. Deel A warm dark canvas with electric coral and orange accents — global payroll dressed as a confident product portrait. DeepSeek Deep-blue Chinese-tech minimalism — a research lab dressed in `#4d6bfe` and stark white space. Deliveroo Deliveroo Teal on white — food-delivery design at maximum saturation, custom Roo Sans, kangaroo-mark mascot energy. Dell Pragmatic blue `#007db8` with custom Roboto-derivative — business-first PC commerce since the dorm room. Deloitte Big-4 gravitas — pure-white canvas, true-black ink, Open Sans at light 300, and the signature green dot. Delta Air Lines Whitney sans on near-white, Delta navy + signal red — the Hartsfield-Jackson aircraft livery translated to web typography. Deno Inkwell black on warm white with the dinosaur mascot — TypeScript runtime as Eric Carle children's book. Descript Cream-pink canvas, a custom Brett display serif, and a wine-dark CTA — an AI video editor that ships like a magazine. Discord Indigo-ground hangout — gg sans body, ABC Ginto Nord display, 12-16px tile radii, white pill CTAs. Disney+ Deep navy gradient streaming hall with custom Inspire display sans and the unmistakable Disney+ wordmark arc. DoorDash Signature red-orange CTA, custom DoorDash Sans, delivery-funnel commerce — the dominant on-demand local marketplace. Duolingo Owl-green confidence and DIN-Round buttons that lift like candy — the gamified language app distilled to four colors and one mascot. dYdX Pure-black canvas, Satoshi-compressed display, and one signature indigo-purple #7774ff CTA — a pro-trader perps terminal as a brand. Dyson Engineering-greyscale on white — Dyson Futura Light at 44px (weight `300`, never bold), body ink `#333` not pure black, zero-radius CTAs with a fluid-dynamics ripple hover, and a single magenta accent reserved for haircare. The web brand of an engineering company that refuses to look like a marketing site. ElevenLabs Near-black voice-tech ground with white voice-wave aesthetic — Inter at studio scale, pill CTAs, and a single saturated accent that reads as both wayfinding and brand. Emirates Custom-serif luxury — Emirates red on light grey, gold accents, Fly Better editorial calm. Epic Games Pure-black canvas with custom Brutal Type / Heading Now display — Fortnite-saturated marketing meets PC-storefront merchandising. Ethereum Off-white canvas, ethereum-blue `#1c64f2` voltage, and Inter + serif duet — community-owned protocol as open documentation. Etsy Burnt-orange CTA, Graphik humanist sans, handcrafted-warmth aesthetic — the marketplace for makers and small batch. Everlane Pure white canvas, Maison Neue Book, near-black ink — radical-transparency DTC minimalism. Excalidraw Literal hand-drawn whiteboard — wobbly SVG strokes, Virgil-style handwriting, and a deliberately primitive UI that turns digital sketching into nostalgia. Expedia Navy commerce + Mango yellow voltage — Expedia Sans, dense travel-funnel density with One Key loyalty colour-coding. fal Pure white canvas, focal display at 120px, and near-black #252527 CTAs — generative-AI inference at editorial scale. Fantastical White paper, Effra geometric sans, full-round blue pills, and a rainbow of app-icon glass squares — a calendar app marketed like Apple''s Pro Apps. Ferrari Cinematic editorial in near-black — Rosso Corsa restraint, FerrariSans 500, and full-bleed cavallino photography. Figma Bright multi-color section bands with figmaSans display and figmaMono eyebrows — a marketing site that designs in scenes. Financial Times Salmon-pink page (`#fff1e5`) — the world''s most recognizable newspaper background, paired with Financier display + MetricWeb sans for global markets coverage. Fireworks AI Light canvas with Inter sans and a signature `#6720ff` purple-amber-orange spark — fast-inference platform dressed in speed-of-light kinetic chrome. Fly.io Mackinac display + Fragment Mono on a violet-saturated canvas — a PaaS that dresses like a small-press magazine. Ford American-truck heritage in corporate blue — Antenna sans, oval-script wordmark, and a deep `#003478` voltage that has carried the brand since 1927. Fortnite Battle-royale design at maximum saturation — neon yellow + electric blue on near-black, Burbank Big condensed display, season-driven brand kaleidoscope. Framer Black-on-white maximalism with electric gradient floods — Inter Display at heroic sizes, motion as a first-class material. Frontegg PP Neue Machina display + Neue Montreal body — plug-and-play user-management with deep-blue gravitas. Gemini (Google) Blue-into-violet gradient, Google Sans, soft Material 3 surfaces — Google''s house style applied to a chat interface. Ghost Warm-cream content CMS aesthetic — Inter for chrome, a soft serif for the writing surface, and a single confident green for action. GitHub Dark-canvas developer-platform marketing — Mona Sans variable headings, lime-green accent, near-black ground. GitHub Copilot Pure-white canvas, pure-black inverted CTAs, Mona Sans display — GitHub's editorial confidence applied to AI tooling. GitLab Light DevOps-platform marketing — GitLab Sans, near-black ink, oversized 96px headlines, tanuki-orange accent. Gitpod Editorial dev-tool calm — light canvas, near-black navy text, ABC Diatype sans + Martina Plantijn serif, 8px radius. Glif Near-black Manrope on near-white, anchored by one confident green CTA — a playful creative-agent canvas. Glossier Post-pink austerity — white canvas, single-family Apercu, 0px radius rectangles. The brand that invented millennial-pink chrome in 2014 has retired pink to a footer wash and a single badge color. Grafana Dark observability canvas with the iconic `#f46800` orange — Inter for body, Roboto Mono everywhere a label hides, multi-colour chart palette ripped straight from a real dashboard. Granola White paper, a custom Quadrant book serif, and an olive-green CTA — an AI notepad that dresses like a stationery shop. Graphite Near-black developer canvas — Matter type, near-white ink, one clean blue, 8px CTAs. Groq Warm off-white canvas, light-weight Space Grotesk, and a single hot `#f43e01` orange — speed-obsessed AI inference. Grubhub Friendly red-orange CTA, Sentinel display + Avenir body, dense delivery-app commerce — the long-running incumbent. Gumroad Hot pink `#ff90e8` on cream, ABC Favorit at 96px, hard black borders and offset shadows — neo-brutalist creator commerce. Gymshark Pure white canvas, black ink, Montserrat bold display over Roboto body — every CTA a fully-rounded 56px pill. HashiCorp Black canvas hosting a per-product color portfolio — Terraform purple, Vault yellow, Consul red, Waypoint cyan — multi-product identity made literal. Hashnode Developer publishing platform — deep navy canvas, electric blue brand, Inter sans + JetBrains Mono code chrome. HBO Max Deep purple-black premium streaming canvas with custom Sharp Grotesk and the unmistakable Max wordmark. Headspace Signature `#ffac1d` orange + custom round display + meditation-friendly playful warmth. Height AI-PM workspace dressed in chalk pastels — Inter at modest weights over a near-paper canvas, with a single confident accent and an AI-purple voltage moment. HEY Warm-white canvas, deep purple-ink, and a crayon-box of saturated pastels — opinionated email dressed as a friendly poster. Hilton Hilton Blue on white — confident-contemporary hospitality with Söhne-adjacent sans, blue-on-white photography-led layouts. Honda Reliability-first restraint — HondaGlobalFont on white, signature red HP Cyan-blue `#0096d6` HP-circle on white with Forma DJR — the 84-year-old technology brand''s mainstream face. HubSpot Warm coral-orange (#FF7A59) on a near-white canvas, a humanist sans set generous and round, and a brand voice that turned inbound marketing into a methodology. Hugging Face AI community canvas — deep blue-black ground, Source Sans Pro headlines, pill auth + 8px tile cards. Hulu Near-black canvas anchored on Hulu Green `#1ce783` with Graphik sans — the bright, cable-meets-streaming UI. Hume AI Warm cream canvas, custom Fellix type, and near-black pill CTAs — voice-AI research presented with humanist calm rather than tech coldness. Hyperliquid Near-black IBM Carbon Design System made literal — pure-white canvas, IBM Plex Sans at light 300, square corners, and one assertive `#0f62fe` blue. Ideogram A bright white canvas with a single saturated violet cue — a typography-first AI image tool that lets the gallery do all the talking. IKEA Yellow `#ffdb00` on blue `#0058a3`, Noto IKEA sans, Swedish-democratic-design retail at planetary scale. Instacart Grocery-shopping-list practical — Instacart Sans on white, signature carrot green JetBlue JetBlue Blue on white — friendly aviation with a custom rounded sans, Mint cabin orange accent, lower-case microcopy. Jupiter Jupiter lime on near-black — Solana DeFi aggregator with Inter, a cat-in-space mascot, and playful pill-CTA energy. Kagi A premium search engine dressed in warm cream and Plex — the indie answer to ad-funded search. KAYAK Burnt-orange flight-search density — Open Sans on white, comparison-engine maximalism, price-graph data viz. Khan Academy Signature `#14bf96` mint green on white with Lato sans — free-for-everyone education in a warm, encouraging register. Kinde White canvas with Inter 72/500 display + dev-friendly pink-coral accent — the approachable auth-billing-access platform. Kit A cream newsletter canvas with a custom KitSans display, a Libre Franklin secondary, and a pastel-rainbow chip set — the editorial register reborn from ConvertKit. Klarna Klarna PINK `#ffa8cd` on white, near-black navy `#0b051d` ink, Klarna Title at billboard scale. Kraken Kraken Purple `#7132f5` on white — Kraken-Brand display + Kraken-Product UI for a calmer, less-bombastic crypto exchange. Krea A pure-black studio with Suisse Intl set quietly at 60px — a creative-AI gallery that lets the work and the cobalt CTA carry the colour. Lamborghini Cathedral of darkness — true black canvas, Lamborghini Gold accents, and LamboType angled-terminal display. LangChain Deep navy canvas with Inter precision and a quietly confident teal accent — agent orchestration dressed as engineering documentation. Ledger White canvas, Inter at rest, and one unmistakable Ledger Orange on full-pill CTAs — security made calm. Lego Lego Yellow + Red on white — primary-color toy theatre, custom Lego Sans, brick-as-hero photography. Lemon Squeezy A dark hero with white Circular display, signature lemon-yellow Leonardo.Ai A pure-black cinematic canvas where ufficioDisplay headlines and white full-pill CTAs frame generative imagery — a film studio's title card, Canva-owned. Linear Dark-canvas product surface — pure-black ground, indigo accent, custom Inter weights, pill CTAs. LiveKit Realtime audio-video infra — Public Sans 300 weight on near-black, signature cyan LlamaIndex White canvas with Inter and a signature `#1b9aff` blue — RAG infrastructure dressed as a clean technical reference card. Logitech Soft consumer-tech blue gradients with Brown sans — design for the way you work, play, and create. Lovable Pink-into-violet gradient on white — vibe-coding dressed in playful, friendly chromatics. Lowe's Signature navy blue on white canvas — residential-DIY warmth rendered as big-box retail. lululemon Quiet-luxury athleisure — Saans variable on bone-off-white, off-black ink (`#140f0f`, not pure black), pill CTAs on square product cards, mixed-case sentence-cased headlines tracked −4px. The athletic brand that murmurs. Luma AI A cinematic black screening room that opens into a white studio — Graphik set tight, every CTA a full white pill. Magic Eden Mint-cream canvas, magenta-mint accent duet, and a custom Foundry display — Solana-native marketplace as boutique gallery. Mailchimp Cavendish-yellow chunkiness — a custom display serif (Cooper Light), the signature `#ffe01b` block, and a brand voice that hugs you while it ships campaigns. Marriott Luxury-hospitality restraint — Caudex serif for editorial moments, off-white canvas, gold-bronze CTA, photographed-resort hero. Mastercard Cream-canvas editorial fintech, circular-portrait orbits, MarkForMC at 450 weight — institutional-but-warm payments brand. MasterClass Pure-black cinema with custom display serif and editorial reverence — celebrity-instructor learning as a premium streaming product. Medium Editorial reading-first publishing — magazine-grade serif body, GT Super display, signature green-on-white pill CTAs. Mercedes-Benz Three-pointed-star authority — MBCorpo on near-black canvas, silver-blue Mercury A near-pure white canvas with a literary serif headline and a signature mercury-mint accent — banking dressed as a quiet magazine. Meta Optimistic blue (#0467df) on a white corporate canvas — Optimistic Display headlines, generous space, social-platform conglomerate at rest. MetaMask Foxy Orange on white — Ethereum wallet design with custom MM Sans, 8-bit fox mascot, friendly-utility voice. Microsoft Fluent surfaces — off-white canvas, Segoe UI Variable Display, and a Cortana-blue action color carrying every product. Midjourney A deep cosmic canvas where JetBrains Mono headlines float over a wide-gamut OKLCH rainbow — a research lab dressed as a chapel. MiniMax Stark monochrome canvas broken open by vibrant gradient product cards — coral, magenta, blue, purple as model identity. Mintlify Documentation-platform marketing — pure white canvas, mint-green accent, Inter at tight tracking, near-black pill CTAs. Miro Canary-yellow Mistral Butter-yellow canvas, Arial as a deliberate anti-tech statement, and zero-radius rectangles — French AI as a brutalist art-school manifesto. Modal Serverless GPU infra in lime-green — `#0c0c0c` canvas, electric `#7fee64` accent, custom Modal Mono on every chip and code block. Monday.com Project management in confident red-pink — Poppins display at bold weights with a colorful saturated palette and a playfully energetic visual rhythm. MongoDB Signature MongoDB green Monzo Hot Coral `#ff4f40` on bright white, MonzoSans humanist geometry, and a transparent challenger-bank warmth. Motion AI-calendar productivity in green-and-purple — Inter at modest weights with a green-to-purple voltage gradient signaling the AI scheduler, anchored by a clean white canvas. MSI Dragon-red `#ff0000` on jet black with bold display sans — the Taipei dragon-heritage gaming hardware brand. Mux Video API for developers — Aeonik on light-cream, Rotonto display, JetBrainsMono CTAs, sharp 0px corners. MyFitnessPal Fitness-tracking utility — MFP Blue on white, Inter sans, dense calorie-and-macro grids, conversion-first navigation. Neon Serverless Postgres dressed in late-night green — a near-black canvas with a single electric mint accent. Netflix Pure-black streaming theatre with signature `#e50914` red and Netflix Sans — the canonical media-tile grid. Nike Pure black, pure white, Helvetica Now — pill CTAs and full-bleed athletic photography on a single soft cloud gray. Nintendo Joyful red on paper-white — Nintendo's site is the toy-aisle of the web, illustration-rich and refusal-of-darkness intentional. Notion Off-white canvas with Lyon serif accents and a custom NotionInter — a workspace dressed as a literary magazine. Nubank Roxo #8d0de3 as the whole brand — white nuSansDisplay on dark purple, 999px pill CTAs, anti-bank warmth. Nuxt Forest-green `#00dc82` glow on a near-black canvas — Vue-flavored warmth dressed for the cosmos. NVIDIA Engineering-grade canvas — pure black hero / paper-white body / one violently saturated `#76b900` green that carries every CTA and corner square. Obsidian Near-black canvas, near-white text, a single electric-purple CTA and a crystal mark — a local-first knowledge base that looks like the editor it ships. Omnivore Open-source read-it-later — near-white reading canvas, focused emerald-on-paper brand, archival elegance after the Eleven Labs sunset. On Swiss-engineered monochrome — true-black ink on white, custom On sans, bold 700 heads and 40px full-pill CTAs. OpenAI Pure white canvas, OpenAI Sans set in calm 500-weight, and a single black pill for the only action that matters — try ChatGPT. OpenRouter Pure-black canvas with custom display typography and pragmatic mono — LLM-router infrastructure dressed as a terminal billing dashboard. OpenSea Pure-black canvas, electric `#2081e2` blue, and Inter at trader-pro density — the original NFT marketplace as financial terminal. Optimism Pure-white canvas, signature `#ff0420` red voltage, and Inter at confident L2 register — Ethereum rollup as bold optimistic infrastructure. Ory White canvas with Inter 48/400 display + signature deep-navy `#0f172a` CTA — open-source-first identity for technical teams. Oura Pure-black canvas with Inter precision and gold-stamped scores — the premium-ring health-precision aesthetic. Paddle Merchant-of-record calm — condensed serif headlines on a near-black canvas with warm cream and sand CTAs. Paper Website A literal sheet-of-paper website — single literary serif, off-white sheet canvas, narrow reading columns, ink-blue links. Patagonia Outdoor-cooperative editorial — Futura sans on cream, ranger-station palette, photography-led story-first marketing. Patreon Patreon Coral on white — creator-economy patronage with Söhne sans, photographer-led marketing, mid-2024 brand refresh language. PayPal Dual-blue corporate trust — PayPal Sans Big over white, with a deep-navy ink and a sky-blue counterpoint. Peloton Signature `#cb1e4e` red on midnight ink, Inter display, instructor-led premium-fitness storefront. Perplexity Cream paper canvas, custom pplxSans, and the unmistakable Tropic-cyan accent — a reference-library answer engine dressed in warm tones. Phantom Phantom Purple on near-black — crypto wallet design that respects the user's intelligence with editorial restraint. Picoko Warm-white canvas, weight-900 Outfit, and one blazing pink — product photography reimagined in seconds. Pika A cream-canvas AI video studio in custom Telka type, with peach and black pill CTAs. Pinecone White canvas with Inter and a signature `#1cb0d0` cyan — vector database technical-marketing dressed in clean blueprint chrome. Pinterest Masonry feed as product, restrained chrome around it — white canvas, near-black text, Pinterest red reserved for action. Pitch Enormous Mark Pro headlines on a black hero, then a clean white workspace — violet Plaid Pale blue trust on white, classical Stripe-adjacent type, and a Benjamin-Franklin-as-mascot moment of personality. Plain B2B support tool with a Dinamo grotesk and a single radioactive `#1ad379` action — Linear-restraint applied to support. PlanetScale Pure-black canvas, blood-red accent, mono-set numerals — a database brand styled like a financial terminal. PlayStation Sony's Cinema-Black canvas with PS Blue and a custom SST sans — gaming-as-cinema, premium hardware in editorial restraint. Polar Dev-tool obsidian — 8rem editorial display headlines, indigo accents, Louize serif moments. Polygon Deep purple `#8247e5` voltage, soft surface ladder, and Inter at enterprise calm — Ethereum L2 as institutional infrastructure. Porsche Engineering-purity black-on-white — Porsche Next at 96px regular, Rosso PostHog Cream-canvas analytics with mustard-yellow CTAs and IBM Plex — open-source craft, not SaaS gloss. Postmark Postal-yellow #ffde00 + warm-black #1c1d1f + paper-white canvas — the transactional email API designed like a friendly post office sign. Prime Video Amazon-blue streaming canvas with Ember sans and the dense, utility-first marketplace UI vocabulary. PropelAuth White canvas with SF Pro Rounded display 60/900 + deep-navy ink — B2B multi-tenant auth with Apple-tinted polish. Quizlet Study-buddy design — Quizlet purple-blue on white, custom Hurmes Geometric, flashcard-as-hero pattern. Qwik Electric purple-to-blue gradient on near-black — resumable execution dressed as a lightning bolt. Railway Ship software peacefully — IBM Plex Serif headlines on a deep eggplant canvas, with a single confident violet for action. Rainbow White canvas, SF Pro Rounded Black at 96px, and a pink-orange-blue-purple rainbow — the friendliest Ethereum wallet onchain. Raindrop.io White paper, system-ui sans, soft watercolor blob backgrounds, and a vivid `#0b7ed0` blue CTA — a bookmark manager that ships like a creative-tool sketch. Ramp Off-yellow `#fcfb70` and black-on-white editorial — finance ops dressed as a printed annual report. Rare Beauty Soft lavender on cream — Selena Gomez's beauty brand with mental-health-aware editorial restraint and serif-led product cards. Raycast Near-black canvas, glowing keycaps, monospaced shortcut chips — a marketing site that thinks like a launcher. Razer Neon `#44d62c` snake-green on jet black with Roboto — the For Gamers, By Gamers visual signature. Readwise Pastel-orange book-club warmth — soft cream canvas, friendly Tiempos serif accents, and a tangerine that signals 'this is your library.' Recraft A jet-black studio where ABC Gravity Condensed slams the headline at weight 900 and a single electric-lime CTA does all the shouting. Reddit Front-page-of-the-internet orange — community-card density, IBM Plex Sans display, and a confident Remix Signature `#3992ff` blue on pure white with Inter — a nested-routes web framework dressed as a manifesto poster. Render Lavender on white — a PaaS that swapped Heroku purple for a candy-bright #8a05ff and kept the airy whitespace. Replicate AI-API marketing — light page chrome, dark hero canvas, rb-Freigeist Neue display, JetBrains Mono code, sharp 0px corners. Replit Saturated turquoise on `#0e1525` ink — the cloud-IDE aesthetic with IBM Plex DNA and a JetBrains Mono soul. Resend Pure-black canvas with Domaine Display serif at 96px and Commit Mono code chips — email infra that thinks in italics. Retool Pragmatic blue #3a55fc + Inter + dense product mocks — the internal-tool platform that designed itself like a well-organised admin panel. Reuters Global newswire restraint — signature orange (`#ff8000`), Knowledge Medium custom sans, broadsheet rigor for the world''s oldest news agency. Revolut Dark Aeonik Pro hero, white Inter content, near-black `#191c1f` ink, fully-pill CTAs and gradient-accented fintech sleekness. Riot Games Crimson `#d13639` red on near-black with custom Riot Beam display — esports-tournament drama and competitive-MOBA editorial. Ritual Visible-supply-chain wellness — white lab canvas, Ritual Navy #142b6f everywhere, CircularXX, 25px rounded CTAs, warm yellow as the one accent. Rive Chunky animated display type and saturated playful colour — interactive graphics platform that wears its motion design on its sleeve. Robinhood Chartreuse `#CCFF00` lime on a black `#000` canvas, Martina Plantijn serif headlines paired with Capsule Sans Text — financial-editorial register, not tech-app sans. Roblox Bright `#ed1d24` red on white with Builder Sans — the youth-block-builder playground turned multi-billion-game social platform. RunPod Deep slate canvas with Inter and a signature `#673ab7` purple — accessible GPU cloud dressed in friendly developer chrome. Runway A near-black research canvas with ABC Normal headlines pulled tight at -2.5px — a film studio, an ML lab, and a brutalist gallery in one shell. Salesforce Cloud-trust dashboards — Salesforce Sans on a sky-blue ground, with Astro the bear standing guard over a dense CRM portal. SAP Enterprise-ERP precision in cobalt — SAP72 sans, signal-blue accents, and a calm white canvas built for trust. Segment Twilio Segment's customer-data-platform canvas — Whitney SSm humanist sans, navy-on-white, single confident `#1866ee` blue. Semafor Paper-cream canvas (`#f8f5d7`) with FeatureFlatHeadline serif and signature flag-style topic columns — global-news editorial built for the post-Twitter era. SendGrid Functional API-blue on white — the email-platform dashboard aesthetic, now folded under the Twilio umbrella. Sentry Deep-aubergine observability — Dammit Sans display, Rubik body, JetBrains Mono code, signature violet #7553ff and pill CTAs. shadcn/ui Copy-paste components in pure black-on-white — the most influential design system not actually shipped as a library. Shopify Dark-first commerce theatre — 96px NeueHaasGrotesk at weight 330, electric mint focus rings, and stacked multi-layer shadows. Shortwave A dark AI-email canvas with Poppins display weight and one electric blue — Inbox rebuilt by the people who built it. Signal Privacy-first messaging in `#3a76f0` Signal blue with Inter sans — minimal, ad-free, end-to-end-encrypted by default. Slack Aubergine workspace marketing — Salesforce-Avant-Garde headlines, all-caps 4px CTAs, white canvas with `#4a154b` accents. Snowflake Deeper cyan Solana Solana Gradient + Diatype on near-black — Layer 1 chain marketing as cinematic experiment, magenta-purple-cyan brand prism. SolidJS Deep navy with a blue-to-cyan brand gradient — reactive primitives dressed as a circuit diagram. Sonos Pure black canvas, Inter typography, and audio-system minimalism — speakers presented as gallery objects. SoundCloud Signature `#ff5500` orange on `#f2f2f2` paper with Interstate sans — waveform-first audio social UI. Sourcegraph Near-black code-intelligence canvas — PolySans display, coral-red accent, big quiet headlines. Southwest Airlines Heart-warm low-cost airline — Southwest Sans on light grey, yellow CTA voltage with navy ink, sharp 2px corners. SpaceX Pure-black cinematic photography, D-DIN aerospace stencil type, ghost-button minimalism — the interface disappears. Spotify Electric `#1ed760` green on near-black canvas with Spotify Mix sans — the canonical streaming-audio tile grid. Square Pure black on pure white, Square Sans grids, and retail-POS minimalism — commerce as black-and-white geometry. StackBlitz Electric blue `#1574ef` on a graphite `#1c1f25` canvas — the in-browser IDE that built Bolt. Starbucks Forest-green storefront — SoDoSans, full-pill buttons, warm-cream canvas, and a floating Frap CTA the brand calls home. Steam Deep blue-gray `#1b2838` with Motiva Sans — the utilitarian PC-gaming library that runs the world's largest digital storefront. SteelSeries Esports orange `#ff6900` on near-black with Inter — Danish precision peripherals for competitive play. Storybook Open-source frontend workshop — white canvas, Nunito Sans, dark hero band, and the signature coral-pink brand mark. Strava Signature `#fc4c02` orange + Inter on white — endurance-athlete data-driven storefront with map-overlay heritage. Stripe Editorial fintech polish — light Söhne headlines at weight 300, navy-not-black text, signature `#533afd` purple CTAs. Stytch Paper-cream canvas with Booton display + Chivo Mono body — passwordless-modern auth, joined Twilio. Substack Magazine-on-the-internet — Spectral serif body at 19px, Cahuenga display, signature `#ff6719` orange CTAs. Suno A near-black booth with cream Neue Montreal and a hot-pink cue light — a music studio, a record sleeve, and a chat app fused into one canvas. Sunsama Thoughtful daily planning in warm cream and ink — Inter at modest weights over a paper-cream canvas with sage and rose accents and a calm, unhurried voice. Supabase Off-black canvas, signature emerald `#3ecf8e`, Circular as display, Postgres-grade type discipline. Superhuman White paper canvas, a custom Super Sans variable, and a single confident lavender — premium email dressed as a stationery brand. Supreme Box-logo red, Courier monospace, skate-deadpan minimalism — the most influential streetwear store on the web. Svelte Hot orange #ff3e00 against clean white with a confident sans — the framework that wears its flame as a wordmark. T-Mobile T-Mobile magenta (#E20074) dominates a near-white canvas — Un-carrier loudness in TeleNeo display weight. Tailscale Warm-light approachable-technical — off-white canvas, near-black Inter, brick-red accent. Tailwind CSS The system applied to itself — Inter Variable on white canvas, signature cyan #06b6d4, every component built from Tailwind utilities. Tana Pure black canvas, a custom tanaClassic serif at 83px, and a pale-pistachio CTA — a knowledge graph dressed as a literary supplement. Target Bullseye red CTA, Helvetica Neue, photographic hero — friendly mass-market design with confident chromatic restraint. Telegram Cloud-blue messaging — Tesla Cinematic showroom on white — one Electric Blue CTA, Universal Sans, and viewport-height car photography. The Atlantic Modern serif headlines on cream-paper, signature Atlantic orange `#fbb33b`, long-form magazine reading rendered for the web. The Economist Deep cinnabar red `#e3120b`, Milo serif body, Econ Sans labels — the global-affairs weekly rendered with cover-illustration discipline. The Guardian Guardian Egyptian slab serif, signature navy `#052962`, structured ruled hierarchy with bold section accents. The Home Depot Signature orange on white, Helvetica bold — hardware-aisle signage as a web storefront. The New York Times Cheltenham serif headlines on paper-white, signature breaking-news red, the canonical American broadsheet rendered for the web. The New Yorker Adobe Caslon Pro + Irvin headline cap — a century of editorial gravitas in cream paper, ink black, and signature cartoon line. The Washington Post Postoni serif blackletter masthead, "Democracy Dies in Darkness" tagline, sober ink-on-paper political broadsheet. Things Cool light-blue canvas, system-ui sans, vivid Things-blue accent — a task manager that ships like an Apple Pro Display. Threads Instagram-adjacent text-first social — pure-black canvas, system-sans clarity, and a quiet brand restraint built from the @ glyph alone. TikTok Electric cyan-magenta on pure black — vertical-video voltage with custom Proxima Nova display and a bold neon brand grammar. tldraw Casual whiteboard sketchy — hand-drawn UI primitives, dotted-grid canvas, and a soft pastel palette that wears its toy-like energy with confidence. Together AI Deep navy on near-white with Inter sans — open-source LLM cloud rendered as developer-platform infrastructure. Toyota Japanese-reliability mainstream — `#eb0a1e` Toyota red on white, ToyotaType sans, and a calm-confident marketing surface for the world's most-sold automotive brand. Turbo Vercel-grade pure-black canvas with a magenta-to-blue Turbo gradient — the build system that wears its speed as a sweep. Turso SQLite at the edge — a deep-teal canvas with a CRT-bright cyan accent (#00face) that reads as a glowing edge node. Twilio Signal-red `#f22f46` against clean white — communications APIs given the visual weight of a broadcast colour. Twitch Purple `#9146ff` on `#0e0e10` canvas with Inter — the live-streaming UI built around chat, raids, and gaming density. Uber Eats Pure-black ground, Uber Move custom sans, Uber-app continuity — the operating system of food delivery. Udemy Signature `#a435f0` purple on white with Sailec sans — the open course-marketplace bazaar made approachable. Udio A pitch-black stage with near-white Innovator display type and a single magenta-pink spotlight — a recording console reimagined as a creative canvas. Uniqlo Signature red `#ff0000`, Helvetica Neue system stack, japanese-utility-functional grid — the LifeWear engine. Uniswap Uniswap Pink on white — DEX design with Basel sans, unicorn-mark whimsy, and rounded-card softness in a usually-brutalist DeFi space. v0 A near-white prompt canvas with GeistSans and pure OKLCH grayscale — Vercel''s AI builder dressed as the calmest text editor on the internet. Valorant Tactical-shooter design language — Tungsten condensed all-caps, signal-red CTAs, and an off-white text the brand calls "ECE8E1". Venmo A single confident `#3d95ce` blue, Aktiv Grotesk geometry, and a social-feed informality — payments dressed as group chat. Vercel Brutalist developer-product polish — near-white canvas, near-pure black-on-near-white type, Geist sans + mono, conic-gradient accents. Visa Bright-blue + golden-yellow payment-rail confidence — saturated `#1434CB` primary, ceremonial `#FCC015` yellow on hero pill CTAs, pill geometry throughout, custom visa-font-latin in light/regular weights. Vite Electric purple #646cff + Manrope display + a literal lightning-bolt mark — the build tool that designed itself to feel as fast as it is. Vodafone Vodafone Red broadcast band, monumental 144px display, two-tier button system — corporate-newsroom telecom design. Volkswagen People's-car blue — the deep `#001e50` corporate hue, custom VW Sans, and a friendly-German marketing surface that sells everyday mobility with confidence. Walmart Spark-yellow on big-box blue, Antonio Display + Bogle sans — everyday low prices made loud. Warby Parker Friendly-premium DTC eyewear — white canvas, bright blue + deep navy, fully pill CTAs. Warp Near-black canvas, neon-lime cursor, real terminal screenshots — a marketing site that boots like a shell. Wayfair Near-white canvas, ink-black type, photographic product cards — editorial-light home retail at marketplace scale. Weaviate White canvas with Inter and a signature `#1cdb46` open-source green — modular vector database dressed in approachable engineering chrome. webdesignhot AI-era editorial dark — pure black with one acid-lime accent. Webflow Indigo-to-purple gradient discipline with a precise structural sans — the visual builder that markets itself like a design conference. WHOOP Lime `#a0d10b` voltage on jet-black, Inter precision, recovery-data athlete-grade aesthetic. Wikipedia System-default information design — Linux Libertine serif headings, Vector skin, deliberate non-branding for the encyclopedia of record. WIRED Newsstand-density editorial grid, sharp-corner buttons, mono ALL-CAPS kickers — Conde Nast meets engineering lab. Wise A flexible bright-lime green on cream-white — money that travels in sans-serif and a single confident accent. Workday HR-warm professional in tangerine — Adelle Sans humanist curves, signature `#f37721` orange, and a calm white people-first canvas. WorkOS Pure-white canvas with Untitled Sans 80/500 display + indigo-violet h2 — the B2B-enterprise gravitas aesthetic. X Pure-black canvas with Chirp display — algorithmic minimalism, single-letter wordmark, ruthless type discipline. Xbox Xbox Green on near-black, Microsoft's Segoe UI Display dialed to gamer-coded confidence — bold, energetic, Game Pass-first. Y Combinator Brutalist orange monolith — system-font sans on white canvas, signature `#f26625` orange-red blocks with hard 0px corners. You.com Crisp white developer-doc canvas, custom Lumen Sans, and the indigo `#5368EE` accent — a search API rebrand done as enterprise infrastructure. YouTube YouTube Sans + Roboto + signature `#ff0000` red — content-density at planetary scale. Zed Warm paper-light canvas, IBM Plex Serif headlines at light weight, one electric-blue download button — a code editor's site that reads like a typesetter's page. Zoom Zoom Blue `#0B5CFF` on white — geometric sans wordmark, Workplace-era AI Companion friendly-corporate register. Zora Cream-white canvas, electric purple-orange duet, and a custom display — onchain creator network as zine cover.
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theme
mobile · 390 × 844
Tokens webdesignhot/0.1
- bg
#ffffff - bg-soft
#f7f6ff - bg-lavender
#f1eeff - surface
#ffffff - surface-soft
#faf9ff - surface-strong
#f1eeff - brand — · 2.7
#978fff - brand-hover
#857cf5 - brand-pressed
#6f63ff - brand-deep
#5b4fee - brand-strong
#5448d6 - brand-tint
#ece9ff - brand-soft
#c9c3ff - on-brand
#ffffff - text AAA · 16.7
#211d1d - text-strong
#000000 - text-muted
#5c5658 - text-soft
#8a8488 - text-faint — · 1.8
#c4c0c2 - text-on-brand
#ffffff - link
#5b4fee - link-hover
#5448d6 - selected-bg
#ece9ff - border — · 1.2
#e8e6ec - border-strong — · 1.5
#d5d2dd - border-soft
#f2f1f6 - border-brand
#978fff - gradient-pink
#ffb8e6 - gradient-peach
#ffd6b8 - gradient-mint
#b8f0d6 - gradient-sky
#b8d6ff - success
#1bbf8a - warning
#f5b948 - danger
#f0506e - info
#5b4fee
Ship faster than ever.
display-hero "Aave Repro" 88px w500 -0.03em
Ship faster than ever.
display-lg "Aave Repro" 72px w500 -0.025em
Ship faster than ever.
h1 "Aave Repro" 72px w500 -0.022em
Built for teams that ship.
h2 "Aave Repro" 48px w500 -0.018em
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
metric "Aave Repro" 40px w500 -0.015em
A complete kit
h3 "Aave Repro" 32px w500 -0.012em
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
h4 "Aave Repro" 24px w500 -0.005em
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
h5 "Aave Repro" 20px w600 0
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body-lg "Aave Repro" 18px w400 0
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body "Aave Repro" 16px w400 0
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
button "Aave Repro" 16px w500 0
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
body-sm "Aave Repro" 14px w400 0
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
eyebrow "Aave Repro" 13px w600 0.08em
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
label "Aave Repro" 13px w500 0
OUR DESIGN SYSTEM
caption "Aave Repro" 12px w500 0.02em
- step-0 0px
- step-1 4px
- step-2 8px
- step-3 12px
- step-4 16px
- step-5 24px
- step-6 32px
- step-7 48px
- step-8 64px
- step-9 96px
- step-10 128px
- micro
4px - sm
8px - md
12px - lg
16px - xl
24px - pill
9999px
Text link →
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A complete kit — everything your product needs.
Hero, pricing, FAQ, dashboard, docs — every layout your product needs.
New
Stable
v1.0
Design roles 7/8 mapped · webdesignhot/0.1
Maps the 8 canonical role names to this entry's actual tokens. Use these to plug the design into role-aware tools — shadcn/ui themes, role-aware Tailwind plugins, atelier-lint — without hard-coding token names.
- background → bg
- foreground → text
- primary → brand
- primary-foreground → on-brand
- accent → —
- muted → text-muted
- border → border
- ring → border-brand
Aave (Finnish for "ghost") began life in 2017 as ETHLend before its 2020 rebrand to Aave under founder Stani Kulechov. The rename brought the ghost — a friendly, rounded mascot that signals trust and softness in a category dominated by brutalist black-and-blue interfaces. The lavender-purple `#978fff` is the ghost's color, carried through pastel gradient washes (pink, peach, mint, sky) that give the marketing site a warm, almost candy register. The custom Aave Repro sans handles every heading and body line — a low-contrast geometric grotesque set at large display sizes (h1 at 72px / weight 500) with tight tracking. Pure white canvas, near-black `#211d1d` text. Where Compound and Curve leaned terminal-brutalist, Aave deliberately leaned approachable to make a multibillion-dollar money market feel safe enough for first-time depositors. The voice is calm: "Use Aave", "Earn interest", "Supply and borrow" — protocol confidence without crypto hype.
- origin and the ghost-mascot rebrand
- friendly softness defining the lavender brand register
- DeFi peer that also chose playful-color over brutalism
- brutalist DeFi peers Aave differentiated against with pastel softness
- gradient-wash + clean-sans fintech reference
Export
4 formats · paste-ready
Tailwind
theme.extend block for tailwind.config.js
CSS variables
:root { --bg, --text, --brand, … } you can paste anywhere
DTCG JSON
W3C Design Tokens Community Group format
Figma Variables
Importable into Figma → Variables → Import
---
name: Aave
tagline: 'Ghost-soft DeFi — lavender #978fff on white, custom Aave Repro sans, pastel gradients in a usually-brutalist lending space.'
updated_at: 2026-05-28T23:13:45.033Z
published_at: 2026-05-28T23:13:45.033Z
author: webdesignhot
source_url: https://aave.com
spec: webdesignhot/0.1
quality: curated
featured: false
categories: [saas]
tags: [light, friendly, sans, crypto, defi, gradient]
preview_swatch: ['#ffffff', '#978fff', '#211d1d']
related: [uniswap, metamask, arbitrum]
description: 'Aave is the rare DeFi lending protocol that decided softness is on-brand. The canvas is pure white `#ffffff`, body and headings sit in the custom Aave Repro sans (h1 at 72px / weight 500), and the signature color is a friendly lavender-purple `#978fff` — the same hue carried by Aave''s ghost mascot and the site''s pastel gradient washes. Near-black text `#211d1d` keeps reading warm rather than clinical. Where Compound and Curve leaned brutalist black-and-blue, Aave leaned approachable: pill-radius CTAs (50px and beyond), gentle gradient registers, and a mascot that makes a multibillion-dollar lending market feel safe. The voice is calm and reassuring — "Use Aave", "Earn interest" — never hype. The whole brand reads as friendly-DeFi: serious enough to custody real capital, soft enough that a first-time supplier isn''t scared off.'
# Canonical 8-role aliases (bg / text / brand / border / accent / muted / surface / danger).
# Maps role names to this entry's actual token names so role-aware
# downstream tools resolve `theme.background` → entry's `bg`, etc.
# Auto-generated by scripts/add-aliases.mjs — do not edit manually;
# regenerate after changing color token names.
aliases:
background: bg
foreground: text
primary: brand
primary-foreground: on-brand
muted: text-muted
border: border
ring: border-brand
colors:
bg: '#ffffff'
bg-soft: '#f7f6ff'
bg-lavender: '#f1eeff'
surface: '#ffffff'
surface-soft: '#faf9ff'
surface-strong: '#f1eeff'
brand: '#978fff'
brand-hover: '#857cf5'
brand-pressed: '#6f63ff'
brand-deep: '#5b4fee'
brand-strong: '#5448d6'
brand-tint: '#ece9ff'
brand-soft: '#c9c3ff'
on-brand: '#ffffff'
text: '#211d1d'
text-strong: '#000000'
text-muted: '#5c5658'
text-soft: '#8a8488'
text-faint: '#c4c0c2'
text-on-brand: '#ffffff'
link: '#5b4fee'
link-hover: '#5448d6'
selected-bg: '#ece9ff'
border: '#e8e6ec'
border-strong: '#d5d2dd'
border-soft: '#f2f1f6'
border-brand: '#978fff'
gradient-pink: '#ffb8e6'
gradient-peach: '#ffd6b8'
gradient-mint: '#b8f0d6'
gradient-sky: '#b8d6ff'
success: '#1bbf8a'
warning: '#f5b948'
danger: '#f0506e'
info: '#5b4fee'
typography:
display:
family: '"Aave Repro", system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif'
weights: [500, 600, 700]
body:
family: '"Aave Repro", system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif'
weights: [400, 500, 600]
mono:
family: 'ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace'
weights: [400, 500]
scale:
display-hero: { size: 88, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.0, tracking: '-0.03em', family: display }
display-lg: { size: 72, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.05, tracking: '-0.025em', family: display }
h1: { size: 72, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.05, tracking: '-0.022em', family: display }
h2: { size: 48, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.1, tracking: '-0.018em', family: display }
h3: { size: 32, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.2, tracking: '-0.012em', family: display }
h4: { size: 24, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.25, tracking: '-0.005em', family: display }
h5: { size: 20, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.3, tracking: '0', family: body }
eyebrow: { size: 13, weight: 600, lineHeight: 1.2, tracking: '0.08em', family: body }
body-lg: { size: 18, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.55, tracking: '0', family: body }
body: { size: 16, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.55, tracking: '0', family: body }
body-sm: { size: 14, weight: 400, lineHeight: 1.5, tracking: '0', family: body }
label: { size: 13, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.4, tracking: '0', family: body }
button: { size: 16, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.0, tracking: '0', family: body }
metric: { size: 40, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.0, tracking: '-0.015em', family: display }
caption: { size: 12, weight: 500, lineHeight: 1.4, tracking: '0.02em', family: body }
radius:
micro: 4
sm: 8
md: 12
lg: 16
xl: 24
pill: 9999
spacing:
base: 4
scale: [0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128]
layout:
page-width: 1280
prose-width: 720
header-height: 72
motion:
ease-standard: 'cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)'
ease-emphasized: 'cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1)'
duration-fast: 150
duration-standard: 240
duration-slow: 360
reduced-motion: 'respects prefers-reduced-motion: reduce'
breakpoints:
mobile: 640
tablet: 1024
desktop: 1280
wide: 1536
shadows:
card: '0 2px 16px rgba(151, 143, 255, 0.08)'
card-hover: '0 12px 32px rgba(151, 143, 255, 0.16)'
brand-glow: '0 8px 28px rgba(151, 143, 255, 0.28)'
modal: '0 24px 64px rgba(33, 29, 29, 0.18)'
accessibility:
contrast-text-on-bg: 16.7
contrast-text-on-brand: 6.1
contrast-white-on-brand: 2.7
focus-ring: '3px solid #978fff'
reduced-motion-honored: true
components:
button-primary: { bg: brand, text: text, padding: '14px 28px', radius: pill, font: button }
button-dark: { bg: text, text: on-brand, padding: '14px 28px', radius: pill, font: button }
button-secondary: { bg: brand-tint, text: brand-strong, padding: '12px 26px', radius: pill, font: button }
button-ghost: { bg: transparent, text: text, border: border, padding: '12px 24px', radius: pill }
card: { bg: surface, radius: 24, padding: 24, shadow: 'card' }
metric-card: { bg: surface-soft, radius: 16, padding: 20, border: '1px solid border-soft' }
pill: { bg: surface-strong, text: text, radius: pill, padding: '6px 14px', font: 'label' }
input: { bg: surface-soft, border: '1px solid border', text: text, radius: 12, padding: '12px 16px', focus-border: brand }
lineage:
summary: 'Aave (Finnish for "ghost") began life in 2017 as ETHLend before its 2020 rebrand to Aave under founder Stani Kulechov. The rename brought the ghost — a friendly, rounded mascot that signals trust and softness in a category dominated by brutalist black-and-blue interfaces. The lavender-purple `#978fff` is the ghost''s color, carried through pastel gradient washes (pink, peach, mint, sky) that give the marketing site a warm, almost candy register. The custom Aave Repro sans handles every heading and body line — a low-contrast geometric grotesque set at large display sizes (h1 at 72px / weight 500) with tight tracking. Pure white canvas, near-black `#211d1d` text. Where Compound and Curve leaned terminal-brutalist, Aave deliberately leaned approachable to make a multibillion-dollar money market feel safe enough for first-time depositors. The voice is calm: "Use Aave", "Earn interest", "Supply and borrow" — protocol confidence without crypto hype.'
influences:
- { name: 'Stani Kulechov (founder, ETHLend → Aave 2020)', role: 'origin and the ghost-mascot rebrand', url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aave' }
- { name: 'Aave ghost mascot', role: 'friendly softness defining the lavender brand register', url: 'https://aave.com' }
- { name: 'Uniswap', role: 'DeFi peer that also chose playful-color over brutalism', url: 'https://uniswap.org' }
- { name: 'Compound / Curve', role: 'brutalist DeFi peers Aave differentiated against with pastel softness', url: 'https://compound.finance' }
- { name: 'Stripe marketing aesthetic', role: 'gradient-wash + clean-sans fintech reference', url: 'https://stripe.com' }
---
## 1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Aave is the rare DeFi lending protocol that decided softness is the point. The canvas is pure white `#ffffff`, body and headings sit in the custom **Aave Repro** sans (h1 at 72px, weight 500), and the signature color is a friendly lavender-purple `#978fff` — the same hue carried by Aave's ghost mascot and the pastel gradient washes that drift behind hero sections. Near-black text `#211d1d` is warm rather than clinical: it has a faint red lean (R slightly above G/B) that keeps the page from feeling like a terminal.
Where Compound and Curve leaned brutalist — monospace, hard black, electric blue, no rounding — Aave leaned the opposite direction. The ghost ("aave" is Finnish for ghost) is the organizing metaphor: rounded, weightless, reassuring. That softness propagates into the whole system. CTAs are deeply pill-radiused (the live site samples a 50px supply button and a 1584px-radius "Download on iOS" pill — effectively a full pill). Gradient registers in pink, peach, mint, and sky pastels appear as ambient washes, never as flat fills on functional surfaces.
The brand operates in two registers at once. There's a **dark register** — a near-black `#211d1d` pill used for high-intent product entry ("Use Aave") — and a **lavender register** — the `#978fff` brand pill used for softer asks ("Download on iOS", "Get started"). Both share the same pill geometry; the color signals intent weight, not hierarchy of importance. A site visitor reads the dark button as "enter the app" and the lavender button as "explore."
The product itself is the hero. Aave's marketing pattern is the live market table — supply APY, borrow APY, total value locked — rendered in clean Aave Repro numerals inside soft 16-24px-radius cards. Numbers are the proof; the design's job is to make billions of dollars in TVL feel calm and legible. Metrics use a 40px display weight so they read as confident statements, not nervous tickers.
The result is friendly-DeFi: serious enough to custody real capital, soft enough that a first-time supplier isn't scared off. Pastel gradients, a ghost, and lavender-on-white turn an intimidating money market into something that feels like it wants you to succeed.
**Key Characteristics:**
- Pure white canvas `#ffffff` + warm near-black text `#211d1d`
- Signature lavender-purple `#978fff` (the ghost's color)
- Custom **Aave Repro** sans for display and body alike
- Large display headings (h1 72px / weight 500) with tight tracking
- Deep pill-radius CTAs (50px+, up to full-pill)
- Dual button register: dark pill (high intent) + lavender pill (soft ask)
- Pastel gradient washes — pink, peach, mint, sky — as ambient background
- The Aave ghost mascot as trust signal
- Live market-table metrics as product hero, 40px display numerals
- Calm, reassuring voice — never crypto hype
- Soft lavender-tinted shadows, generous 24px card radius
## 2. Color Palette & Roles
### Primary
- **Background** (`#ffffff`): pure white page canvas.
- **Bg Soft** (`#f7f6ff`): faint lavender-tinted alternate section background.
- **Bg Lavender** (`#f1eeff`): soft lavender wash behind feature blocks.
- **Text** (`#211d1d`): warm near-black for all body and headings.
### Brand — Aave Lavender
- **Brand** (`#978fff`): the ghost's lavender-purple, primary brand pill and accent.
- **Brand Hover** (`#857cf5`): one step deeper on hover.
- **Brand Pressed** (`#6f63ff`): active/pressed state.
- **Brand Deep** (`#5b4fee`): used where white text needs ≥5:1 contrast (links, deep CTAs).
- **Brand Strong** (`#5448d6`): strongest tier, link-hover and high-contrast text-on-purple.
- **Brand Tint** (`#ece9ff`): selection wash, secondary-button fill.
- **Brand Soft** (`#c9c3ff`): muted lavender for chips and inactive accents.
### Dark Register (high-intent CTA)
- **Text-as-button** (`#211d1d`): the near-black pill used for "Use Aave" / app-entry.
- **On-brand** (`#ffffff`): white label on the dark pill.
### Gradient Pastels (ambient only)
- **Gradient Pink** (`#ffb8e6`), **Peach** (`#ffd6b8`), **Mint** (`#b8f0d6`), **Sky** (`#b8d6ff`): the four pastel washes that compose hero gradients. Never used as functional UI fills.
### Neutral / Text
- **Text Muted** (`#5c5658`): secondary copy, captions.
- **Text Soft** (`#8a8488`): tertiary, helper text.
- **Text Faint** (`#c4c0c2`): placeholders, disabled.
### Surface
- **Surface** (`#ffffff`): card background.
- **Surface Soft** (`#faf9ff`): inset inputs, metric cards.
- **Surface Strong** (`#f1eeff`): pills, token chips.
### Borders
- **Border** (`#e8e6ec`): default hairline.
- **Border Strong** (`#d5d2dd`): emphasized dividers.
- **Border Soft** (`#f2f1f6`): faintest separation.
- **Border Brand** (`#978fff`): focus ring, selected card outline.
### Semantic
- **Success** (`#1bbf8a`): positive APY, confirmed states.
- **Warning** (`#f5b948`): health-factor caution, alerts.
- **Danger** (`#f0506e`): liquidation risk, errors.
- **Info** (`#5b4fee`): informational, also link color.
## 3. Typography Rules
### Font Family
- **Display + Body**: **Aave Repro** — a custom low-contrast geometric grotesque used for everything from 72px headlines to 13px labels. Falls back to `system-ui` → `-apple-system` → `BlinkMacSystemFont` → `sans-serif`.
- **Mono**: system mono stack (`ui-monospace`, `SFMono-Regular`, `SF Mono`, `Menlo`) for wallet addresses and hashes.
### Hierarchy
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | LH | Tracking |
|------|------|------|--------|-----|----------|
| display-hero | Aave Repro | 88 | 500 | 1.0 | -0.03em |
| display-lg | Aave Repro | 72 | 500 | 1.05 | -0.025em |
| h1 | Aave Repro | 72 | 500 | 1.05 | -0.022em |
| h2 | Aave Repro | 48 | 500 | 1.1 | -0.018em |
| h3 | Aave Repro | 32 | 500 | 1.2 | -0.012em |
| h4 | Aave Repro | 24 | 500 | 1.25 | -0.005em |
| h5 | Aave Repro | 20 | 600 | 1.3 | 0 |
| eyebrow | Aave Repro | 13 | 600 | 1.2 | 0.08em UPPER |
| metric | Aave Repro | 40 | 500 | 1.0 | -0.015em |
| body-lg | Aave Repro | 18 | 400 | 1.55 | 0 |
| body | Aave Repro | 16 | 400 | 1.55 | 0 |
| body-sm | Aave Repro | 14 | 400 | 1.5 | 0 |
| label | Aave Repro | 13 | 500 | 1.4 | 0 |
| button | Aave Repro | 16 | 500 | 1.0 | 0 |
| caption | Aave Repro | 12 | 500 | 1.4 | 0.02em |
| address | system mono | 13 | 400 | 1.5 | 0 |
### Principles
- **Aave Repro for everything.** One typeface carries display through caption — the brand never mixes in a second sans. Mono is reserved strictly for addresses and hashes.
- **Weight 500 dominates display.** Headlines are medium, not bold — the softness comes from weight restraint, not thin strokes. Confident, never aggressive.
- **Tight tracking scales with size.** Hero −0.03em down to 0 at body. The negative tracking on large display knits letterforms into calm, solid headlines.
- **Generous body line-height (1.55).** Reading comfort over density; the page breathes.
- **Large numerals for metrics.** APY and TVL figures use the 40px display tier so financial numbers read as confident statements.
- **Mixed-case display, uppercase eyebrows.** Headlines are sentence case; only the small 13px eyebrows go uppercase with 0.08em tracking.
- **No italics for emphasis.** Emphasis comes from weight (500→600) and the lavender accent, not slant.
## 4. Component Stylings
### Buttons (4 variants — all pill-radius)
**Primary (lavender)** — the soft ask:
- bg `#978fff`, text `#211d1d` (near-black on lavender = 6.1:1, AA), 16px Aave Repro 500
- Padding 14×28, radius 9999 (pill, sampled live at 50px+)
- Hover: bg `#857cf5`, subtle lift `translateY(-1px)` + brand-glow shadow
- Note: if a *white* label is required on lavender, deepen the fill to `#5b4fee` (white = 5.5:1) — `#978fff` with white text only passes at 2.7:1 (decorative).
**Dark (high-intent)** — the app-entry CTA ("Use Aave"):
- bg `#211d1d`, text `#ffffff` (15:1, AAA), 16px Aave Repro 500
- Padding 14×28, radius 9999 (pill)
- Hover: bg lightens to `#352f2f`, slight scale 1.02
**Secondary (tint)**:
- bg `#ece9ff` (brand-tint), text `#5448d6` (brand-strong), pill radius
- Padding 12×26; hover: bg `#dedaff`
**Ghost**:
- bg transparent, text `#211d1d`, 1px `#e8e6ec` border, pill radius, padding 12×24
- Hover: bg `#faf9ff`, border `#d5d2dd`
### Cards
- bg white `#ffffff`, **24px radius**, padding 24
- Soft lavender-tinted shadow `0 2px 16px rgba(151,143,255,0.08)`
- Hover: shadow deepens to `0 12px 32px rgba(151,143,255,0.16)`, optional `border-brand` outline on selection
### Metric Cards (the market-table cells)
- bg `#faf9ff` (surface-soft), **16px radius**, padding 20, 1px `#f2f1f6` border
- 40px Aave Repro 500 numeral on top, 13px muted label below
- Positive APY rendered in `#1bbf8a` (success), risk values in `#f0506e` (danger)
### Badges / Tags / Pills
- **Token pill**: bg `#f1eeff` (surface-strong), pill radius, token icon + symbol, 13px label
- **Status badge**: pill, tinted fill matching semantic role (success-tint / warning-tint / danger-tint) with darker text
- **Network chip**: pill radius, network-color dot + name, soft border
### Inputs / Forms
- bg `#faf9ff` (surface-soft), 1px `#e8e6ec` border, **12px radius**, padding 12×16
- Placeholder `#c4c0c2`, value `#211d1d`
- Focus: border `#978fff`, 3px `rgba(151,143,255,0.3)` ring
- Amount inputs (supply/borrow) use larger 24px display type, right-aligned, with a "MAX" lavender ghost button
### Navigation
- 72px sticky header, white bg, faint bottom border `#f2f1f6` on scroll
- Aave ghost wordmark left, top-level nav center (Markets / Stake / Governance / Docs)
- Right: a lavender or dark "Use Aave" pill CTA
- Mobile: hamburger collapsing the center nav into a sheet
## 5. Layout Principles
### Spacing System
- Base unit **4px**. Scale: 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128.
- Component padding clusters at 16-24px; section rhythm at 96-128px.
### Grid & Container
- Page max width **1280px**, centered, with 24px gutters that widen at desktop.
- Prose blocks cap at **720px** for readability.
- Market tables span full container width; feature blocks use a 12-column grid (3-up desktop, 2-up tablet, stacked mobile).
### Whitespace Philosophy
- Whitespace is the brand's calm. Generous vertical rhythm (96-128px between sections) lets pastel gradient washes breathe behind content without crowding.
- Cards are never wall-to-wall — there's always lavender-tinted negative space framing them.
### Section Cadence
- Hero (gradient wash + 72px headline + dual CTA) → live market metrics → feature trio → trust/security band → footer.
- Each section alternates between pure white and a faint `#f7f6ff` / `#f1eeff` lavender background to segment without hard dividers.
## 6. Shapes & Radius Scale
| Tier | Value | Use |
|------|-------|-----|
| Micro | 4 | indicators, tiny chips |
| Standard | 8 | tooltips, small controls |
| Comfortable | 12 | **inputs**, dropdowns |
| Relaxed | 16 | **metric cards** |
| Featured | 24 | **default cards** (product hero) |
| Pill | 9999 | **all buttons + token pills** |
Aave runs soft across the board. The default card radius (24px) is at the upper end of the DeFi range, and buttons go fully pill. There are no sharp corners anywhere in the functional UI — every surface echoes the rounded ghost.
## 7. Depth & Elevation
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|-------|-----------|-----|
| 0 | none | flat sections on white |
| 1 | `0 2px 16px rgba(151,143,255,0.08)` | resting cards |
| 2 | `0 12px 32px rgba(151,143,255,0.16)` | card hover |
| 3 | `0 8px 28px rgba(151,143,255,0.28)` | brand-glow on primary CTA hover |
| 4 | `0 24px 64px rgba(33,29,29,0.18)` | modals, wallet sheet |
### Shadow Philosophy
Shadows are lavender-tinted, not neutral-grey. Resting elevation is whisper-soft (8% alpha) so cards feel like they float a millimeter above white rather than casting hard depth. The brand-glow on CTA hover is the one place opacity climbs (28%) to make the lavender pill feel reachable. Modals are the only neutral-shadowed surface, using the warm near-black at 18% for a grounded overlay.
## 8. Interaction & Motion
### Easing
- **Standard**: `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)` — material-style for most transitions.
- **Emphasized**: `cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1)` — gentle overshoot for entrances and the ghost mascot's float.
### Durations
- **Fast** 150ms: hover color/shadow shifts.
- **Standard** 240ms: dropdowns, card expand, tab switches.
- **Slow** 360ms: section reveals, modal open.
### Per-component micro-states
- **Primary CTA**: hover → deeper lavender + `translateY(-1px)` + brand-glow (240ms standard).
- **Card**: hover → shadow level 1→2, optional brand-border fade (240ms).
- **Metric numerals**: count-up animation on scroll-into-view (emphasized, ~800ms once).
- **Token selector**: 240ms slide-down dropdown with soft fade.
- **Ghost mascot**: slow idle float (emphasized ease, ~3s loop) — purely decorative.
### Page transitions
- Section content fades up 16px on scroll-into-view (emphasized, staggered ~60ms per item).
- Gradient washes shift hue subtly over a long loop — ambient, never attention-grabbing.
### Reduced motion
- Respects `prefers-reduced-motion: reduce`: count-ups jump to final value, ghost float and gradient drift freeze, fades become instant. No essential information lives in motion.
## 9. Accessibility & A11y
### Computed contrast pairs (from live tokens)
- **Text on bg** — `#211d1d` on `#ffffff` = **16.7:1** (AAA, all sizes).
- **Near-black on brand** — `#211d1d` on `#978fff` = **6.1:1** (AA, all sizes). This is the *correct* primary-button pairing: dark text on lavender.
- **White on brand** — `#ffffff` on `#978fff` = **2.7:1** (fails AA). The live "Download on iOS" pill uses white-on-lavender, which only passes for large/decorative text — for real white-on-purple labels, deepen to `#5b4fee` (= **5.5:1**, AA) or `#5448d6` (= **6.4:1**).
- **White on dark CTA** — `#ffffff` on `#211d1d` = **15:1** (AAA).
- **Link** — `#5b4fee` on `#ffffff` = **5.7:1** (AA).
### Focus indicators
- 3px `#978fff` focus ring (or `rgba(151,143,255,0.5)` outer glow) on all interactive elements. Never remove outline without an equivalent.
### ARIA patterns
- Token selectors as `role="combobox"` with `aria-expanded`.
- Market table as a real `<table>` with scope headers; APY/risk values get `aria-label` spelling out the number and unit.
- Health-factor color is paired with text/icon so risk isn't conveyed by color alone.
### Keyboard nav
- Full tab order through nav → hero CTA → market rows → footer. Modal/wallet sheet traps focus and restores on close. Esc closes overlays.
### Screen reader hints
- Truncated addresses expose the full value via `aria-label` and a copy button. Gradient washes and the ghost mascot are `aria-hidden`.
### Reduced motion
- All count-ups, floats, and gradient drift honor `prefers-reduced-motion: reduce`.
## 10. Responsive Behavior
| Breakpoint | Width | Behavior |
|------------|-------|----------|
| mobile | <640 | hero 72→40px, single-column, nav → hamburger, CTAs full-width |
| tablet | 640–1024 | 2-up feature grid, market table scrolls horizontally |
| desktop | 1024–1280 | 3-up grid, full market table, dual-CTA hero |
| wide | >1536 | content caps at 1280, gradient washes extend to viewport edges |
- **Touch targets**: minimum 44×44px; pill CTAs are comfortably taller on mobile.
- **Per-component collapsing**: nav center links collapse into a sheet; market table becomes horizontally scrollable cards on mobile; metric cards stack single-column.
- **Image / gradient behavior**: pastel gradient washes scale to fill but reduce intensity on small screens to preserve text contrast. Ghost mascot shrinks and may drop on the smallest breakpoint.
- **Container queries**: market-table cells switch from row to stacked label/value layout below a card-width threshold rather than a viewport breakpoint.
## 11. Content & Voice
### Tone
**Calm and reassuring.** Aave talks like a trustworthy institution that happens to be friendly — plain language about supplying, borrowing, and earning, with zero crypto hype, moon-talk, or urgency theater. Confidence comes from clarity, not exclamation points.
### Microcopy patterns
- Primary CTA: **"Use Aave"** / **"Get started"** / **"Supply"** / **"Borrow"**
- Secondary: **"Download on iOS"** / **"Read the docs"** / **"View markets"**
- Errors: **"Insufficient balance to supply"** / **"Health factor too low to borrow"**
- Loading: **"Confirming transaction…"**
- Success: **"Supplied 1,000 USDC — earning 3.2% APY"**
### Empty states
- Calm and instructive: **"No positions yet. Supply an asset to start earning."** — paired with the ghost mascot and a single lavender CTA.
### CTA verb conventions
- **Use / Supply / Borrow / Earn / Stake / Withdraw** — direct financial verbs.
- Avoid: "ape in", "to the moon", "🚀", urgency countdowns, or any speculative framing. Aave is a money market, not a casino.
## 12. Dark Mode & Theming
The marketing site (`aave.com`) is **light-only** — pure white canvas with the lavender brand and pastel gradient washes. The Aave **app** (`app.aave.com`) ships a dark theme: a deep near-black `#1b1a1f`-class background with the lavender `#978fff` brand carried through unchanged, and the pastel gradients dimmed to subtle glows. When building a dark variant of this system, keep `#978fff` as the constant brand anchor, swap white surfaces for warm-dark `#1b1a1f`/`#26242b`, lift text to `#f5f3f7`, and reduce gradient-wash opacity so it reads as ambient light rather than color blocks.
## 13. Lineage & Influences
Aave began in 2017 as **ETHLend**, a peer-to-peer lending dApp, before its 2020 rebrand to Aave — Finnish for "ghost" — under founder Stani Kulechov. The rename brought the mascot: a friendly, rounded ghost that signals trust and approachability in a category otherwise dominated by brutalist black-and-blue terminals. The ghost's lavender-purple `#978fff` became the brand anchor, extended into pastel gradient washes (pink, peach, mint, sky) that give the marketing site a warm, almost candy register entirely unlike the austere DeFi default.
Typographically, Aave commissioned **Aave Repro**, a custom low-contrast geometric grotesque, and uses it everywhere from 72px headlines (weight 500) to 13px labels — a single-typeface discipline that keeps the system coherent. The choice to lean soft was strategic: where Compound and Curve courted power-users with dense brutalism, Aave deliberately designed to make a multibillion-dollar money market feel safe enough for first-time depositors. It shares that playful-color-over-brutalism instinct with Uniswap, and borrows gradient-wash-plus-clean-sans fintech polish from the Stripe lineage.
**Named influences:**
- **Stani Kulechov (founder)** — ETHLend → Aave 2020 rebrand and the ghost identity
- **The Aave ghost mascot** — friendly softness defining the lavender register
- **Uniswap** — DeFi peer that also chose playful color over brutalism
- **Compound / Curve** — brutalist DeFi peers Aave differentiated against
- **Stripe marketing aesthetic** — gradient-wash + clean-sans fintech reference
## 14. Do's and Don'ts
### Do
- **Use lavender `#978fff` for the brand pill and accents** — it's the ghost's color, the single identity anchor.
- **Pair dark text `#211d1d` on lavender CTAs** (6.1:1, AA) — that's the correct contrast.
- **Use the dark `#211d1d` pill for high-intent app entry** ("Use Aave").
- **Set everything in Aave Repro** (or system-ui fallback) at weight 500 for display.
- **Go pill-radius on every button, 24px on cards.**
- **Render metrics large** (40px display) — APY and TVL are the proof.
- **Use pastel gradients as ambient washes only** — pink/peach/mint/sky behind heroes.
- **Keep the voice calm and reassuring** — plain financial language.
- **Tint shadows lavender** `rgba(151,143,255,…)`, soft and low-alpha.
- **Honor `prefers-reduced-motion`** — freeze the ghost and gradient drift.
### Don't
- **Don't substitute the lavender.** `#978fff` is the brand, not a generic Tailwind purple.
- **Don't put white text on `#978fff`** for body-size labels — it fails at 2.7:1. Deepen to `#5b4fee`+ first.
- **Don't mistake "Accept All" for brand.** That dark pill is the cookie banner, not a brand CTA.
- **Don't introduce a second typeface.** Aave Repro carries the whole system.
- **Don't use sharp corners.** Everything echoes the rounded ghost.
- **Don't apply gradient pastels to functional fills** — they're ambient background only.
- **Don't use brutalist DeFi aesthetics** — monospace-everywhere, hard black, electric blue. Soft lavender IS Aave.
- **Don't add crypto hype** — no "ape in", rockets, or urgency countdowns.
- **Don't hard-shadow with neutral grey** — shadows are lavender-tinted.
- **Don't anthropomorphize the ghost into a hype character** — it's a calm trust signal, used sparingly.
## 15. Agent Prompt Guide
### Quick Color Reference
- bg: `#ffffff`
- text: `#211d1d`
- brand (Aave lavender): `#978fff` / hover `#857cf5`
- brand-deep (white-text-safe): `#5b4fee`
- dark CTA pill: `#211d1d` (white text)
- brand-tint (secondary fill): `#ece9ff`
- gradient pastels: pink `#ffb8e6` · peach `#ffd6b8` · mint `#b8f0d6` · sky `#b8d6ff`
- border: `#e8e6ec`
- success `#1bbf8a` · danger `#f0506e`
### Example Component Prompts
> Build an Aave-style hero: pure white canvas with a soft pastel gradient wash (lavender → pink → sky) drifting behind. 72px Aave Repro weight-500 headline "Earn interest on your crypto" with -0.022em tracking. Below it a dark `#211d1d` pill CTA "Use Aave" (white text) next to a lavender `#978fff` pill "Download on iOS" (dark `#211d1d` text). Calm, lots of whitespace.
> Design an Aave market table: full-width container, rows of metric cards on `#faf9ff` 16px-radius surfaces. Each cell: 40px Aave Repro 500 numeral on top (supply APY in green `#1bbf8a`), 13px muted `#5c5658` label below. Soft lavender shadow `0 2px 16px rgba(151,143,255,0.08)`.
> Render an Aave supply card: white surface, 24px radius, lavender-tinted shadow. Asset row with token pill (`#f1eeff` bg, icon + "USDC"), a large 24px right-aligned amount input with a lavender "MAX" ghost button, and a full-width lavender `#978fff` "Supply" pill CTA with dark text at the bottom.
> Build an Aave primary button: lavender `#978fff` fill, near-black `#211d1d` 16px Aave Repro 500 label, pill radius, padding 14×28. Hover: bg `#857cf5`, lift 1px, lavender brand-glow shadow. (If white text is required, deepen fill to `#5b4fee`.)
> Design an Aave dark CTA: near-black `#211d1d` pill, white 16px Aave Repro 500 "Use Aave", padding 14×28, radius 9999. Hover: lighten to `#352f2f`, scale 1.02.
> Create an Aave empty state: centered ghost mascot illustration, 24px Aave Repro 500 "No positions yet", 16px muted helper line "Supply an asset to start earning", single lavender `#978fff` pill CTA "Supply".
### Iteration Guide
1. **White canvas + lavender `#978fff` + Aave Repro + the ghost.** That quartet is the brand.
2. **Dark text on lavender CTAs** (6.1:1) — never white text on `#978fff` for labels.
3. **Two CTA registers**: dark `#211d1d` pill for app entry, lavender pill for soft asks. Same pill geometry, different intent.
4. **Pill buttons, 24px cards, 12px inputs.** Nothing sharp.
5. **Pastel gradient washes are ambient only** — behind heroes, never on functional fills.
6. **Metrics go large** (40px display) — the live market table is the product hero.
7. **Lavender-tinted soft shadows**, low alpha, floating-not-grounded.
8. **Calm reassuring voice** — reject crypto hype, urgency, and brutalist DeFi aesthetics. Soft lavender IS Aave.
1. Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Aave is the rare DeFi lending protocol that decided softness is the point. The canvas is pure white #ffffff, body and headings sit in the custom Aave Repro sans (h1 at 72px, weight 500), and the signature color is a friendly lavender-purple #978fff — the same hue carried by Aave’s ghost mascot and the pastel gradient washes that drift behind hero sections. Near-black text #211d1d is warm rather than clinical: it has a faint red lean (R slightly above G/B) that keeps the page from feeling like a terminal.
Where Compound and Curve leaned brutalist — monospace, hard black, electric blue, no rounding — Aave leaned the opposite direction. The ghost (“aave” is Finnish for ghost) is the organizing metaphor: rounded, weightless, reassuring. That softness propagates into the whole system. CTAs are deeply pill-radiused (the live site samples a 50px supply button and a 1584px-radius “Download on iOS” pill — effectively a full pill). Gradient registers in pink, peach, mint, and sky pastels appear as ambient washes, never as flat fills on functional surfaces.
The brand operates in two registers at once. There’s a dark register — a near-black #211d1d pill used for high-intent product entry (“Use Aave”) — and a lavender register — the #978fff brand pill used for softer asks (“Download on iOS”, “Get started”). Both share the same pill geometry; the color signals intent weight, not hierarchy of importance. A site visitor reads the dark button as “enter the app” and the lavender button as “explore.”
The product itself is the hero. Aave’s marketing pattern is the live market table — supply APY, borrow APY, total value locked — rendered in clean Aave Repro numerals inside soft 16-24px-radius cards. Numbers are the proof; the design’s job is to make billions of dollars in TVL feel calm and legible. Metrics use a 40px display weight so they read as confident statements, not nervous tickers.
The result is friendly-DeFi: serious enough to custody real capital, soft enough that a first-time supplier isn’t scared off. Pastel gradients, a ghost, and lavender-on-white turn an intimidating money market into something that feels like it wants you to succeed.
Key Characteristics:
- Pure white canvas
#ffffff+ warm near-black text#211d1d - Signature lavender-purple
#978fff(the ghost’s color) - Custom Aave Repro sans for display and body alike
- Large display headings (h1 72px / weight 500) with tight tracking
- Deep pill-radius CTAs (50px+, up to full-pill)
- Dual button register: dark pill (high intent) + lavender pill (soft ask)
- Pastel gradient washes — pink, peach, mint, sky — as ambient background
- The Aave ghost mascot as trust signal
- Live market-table metrics as product hero, 40px display numerals
- Calm, reassuring voice — never crypto hype
- Soft lavender-tinted shadows, generous 24px card radius
2. Color Palette & Roles
Primary
- Background (
#ffffff): pure white page canvas. - Bg Soft (
#f7f6ff): faint lavender-tinted alternate section background. - Bg Lavender (
#f1eeff): soft lavender wash behind feature blocks. - Text (
#211d1d): warm near-black for all body and headings.
Brand — Aave Lavender
- Brand (
#978fff): the ghost’s lavender-purple, primary brand pill and accent. - Brand Hover (
#857cf5): one step deeper on hover. - Brand Pressed (
#6f63ff): active/pressed state. - Brand Deep (
#5b4fee): used where white text needs ≥5:1 contrast (links, deep CTAs). - Brand Strong (
#5448d6): strongest tier, link-hover and high-contrast text-on-purple. - Brand Tint (
#ece9ff): selection wash, secondary-button fill. - Brand Soft (
#c9c3ff): muted lavender for chips and inactive accents.
Dark Register (high-intent CTA)
- Text-as-button (
#211d1d): the near-black pill used for “Use Aave” / app-entry. - On-brand (
#ffffff): white label on the dark pill.
Gradient Pastels (ambient only)
- Gradient Pink (
#ffb8e6), Peach (#ffd6b8), Mint (#b8f0d6), Sky (#b8d6ff): the four pastel washes that compose hero gradients. Never used as functional UI fills.
Neutral / Text
- Text Muted (
#5c5658): secondary copy, captions. - Text Soft (
#8a8488): tertiary, helper text. - Text Faint (
#c4c0c2): placeholders, disabled.
Surface
- Surface (
#ffffff): card background. - Surface Soft (
#faf9ff): inset inputs, metric cards. - Surface Strong (
#f1eeff): pills, token chips.
Borders
- Border (
#e8e6ec): default hairline. - Border Strong (
#d5d2dd): emphasized dividers. - Border Soft (
#f2f1f6): faintest separation. - Border Brand (
#978fff): focus ring, selected card outline.
Semantic
- Success (
#1bbf8a): positive APY, confirmed states. - Warning (
#f5b948): health-factor caution, alerts. - Danger (
#f0506e): liquidation risk, errors. - Info (
#5b4fee): informational, also link color.
3. Typography Rules
Font Family
- Display + Body: Aave Repro — a custom low-contrast geometric grotesque used for everything from 72px headlines to 13px labels. Falls back to
system-ui→-apple-system→BlinkMacSystemFont→sans-serif. - Mono: system mono stack (
ui-monospace,SFMono-Regular,SF Mono,Menlo) for wallet addresses and hashes.
Hierarchy
| Role | Font | Size | Weight | LH | Tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| display-hero | Aave Repro | 88 | 500 | 1.0 | -0.03em |
| display-lg | Aave Repro | 72 | 500 | 1.05 | -0.025em |
| h1 | Aave Repro | 72 | 500 | 1.05 | -0.022em |
| h2 | Aave Repro | 48 | 500 | 1.1 | -0.018em |
| h3 | Aave Repro | 32 | 500 | 1.2 | -0.012em |
| h4 | Aave Repro | 24 | 500 | 1.25 | -0.005em |
| h5 | Aave Repro | 20 | 600 | 1.3 | 0 |
| eyebrow | Aave Repro | 13 | 600 | 1.2 | 0.08em UPPER |
| metric | Aave Repro | 40 | 500 | 1.0 | -0.015em |
| body-lg | Aave Repro | 18 | 400 | 1.55 | 0 |
| body | Aave Repro | 16 | 400 | 1.55 | 0 |
| body-sm | Aave Repro | 14 | 400 | 1.5 | 0 |
| label | Aave Repro | 13 | 500 | 1.4 | 0 |
| button | Aave Repro | 16 | 500 | 1.0 | 0 |
| caption | Aave Repro | 12 | 500 | 1.4 | 0.02em |
| address | system mono | 13 | 400 | 1.5 | 0 |
Principles
- Aave Repro for everything. One typeface carries display through caption — the brand never mixes in a second sans. Mono is reserved strictly for addresses and hashes.
- Weight 500 dominates display. Headlines are medium, not bold — the softness comes from weight restraint, not thin strokes. Confident, never aggressive.
- Tight tracking scales with size. Hero −0.03em down to 0 at body. The negative tracking on large display knits letterforms into calm, solid headlines.
- Generous body line-height (1.55). Reading comfort over density; the page breathes.
- Large numerals for metrics. APY and TVL figures use the 40px display tier so financial numbers read as confident statements.
- Mixed-case display, uppercase eyebrows. Headlines are sentence case; only the small 13px eyebrows go uppercase with 0.08em tracking.
- No italics for emphasis. Emphasis comes from weight (500→600) and the lavender accent, not slant.
4. Component Stylings
Buttons (4 variants — all pill-radius)
Primary (lavender) — the soft ask:
- bg
#978fff, text#211d1d(near-black on lavender = 6.1:1, AA), 16px Aave Repro 500 - Padding 14×28, radius 9999 (pill, sampled live at 50px+)
- Hover: bg
#857cf5, subtle lifttranslateY(-1px)+ brand-glow shadow - Note: if a white label is required on lavender, deepen the fill to
#5b4fee(white = 5.5:1) —#978fffwith white text only passes at 2.7:1 (decorative).
Dark (high-intent) — the app-entry CTA (“Use Aave”):
- bg
#211d1d, text#ffffff(15:1, AAA), 16px Aave Repro 500 - Padding 14×28, radius 9999 (pill)
- Hover: bg lightens to
#352f2f, slight scale 1.02
Secondary (tint):
- bg
#ece9ff(brand-tint), text#5448d6(brand-strong), pill radius - Padding 12×26; hover: bg
#dedaff
Ghost:
- bg transparent, text
#211d1d, 1px#e8e6ecborder, pill radius, padding 12×24 - Hover: bg
#faf9ff, border#d5d2dd
Cards
- bg white
#ffffff, 24px radius, padding 24 - Soft lavender-tinted shadow
0 2px 16px rgba(151,143,255,0.08) - Hover: shadow deepens to
0 12px 32px rgba(151,143,255,0.16), optionalborder-brandoutline on selection
Metric Cards (the market-table cells)
- bg
#faf9ff(surface-soft), 16px radius, padding 20, 1px#f2f1f6border - 40px Aave Repro 500 numeral on top, 13px muted label below
- Positive APY rendered in
#1bbf8a(success), risk values in#f0506e(danger)
Badges / Tags / Pills
- Token pill: bg
#f1eeff(surface-strong), pill radius, token icon + symbol, 13px label - Status badge: pill, tinted fill matching semantic role (success-tint / warning-tint / danger-tint) with darker text
- Network chip: pill radius, network-color dot + name, soft border
Inputs / Forms
- bg
#faf9ff(surface-soft), 1px#e8e6ecborder, 12px radius, padding 12×16 - Placeholder
#c4c0c2, value#211d1d - Focus: border
#978fff, 3pxrgba(151,143,255,0.3)ring - Amount inputs (supply/borrow) use larger 24px display type, right-aligned, with a “MAX” lavender ghost button
Navigation
- 72px sticky header, white bg, faint bottom border
#f2f1f6on scroll - Aave ghost wordmark left, top-level nav center (Markets / Stake / Governance / Docs)
- Right: a lavender or dark “Use Aave” pill CTA
- Mobile: hamburger collapsing the center nav into a sheet
5. Layout Principles
Spacing System
- Base unit 4px. Scale: 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128.
- Component padding clusters at 16-24px; section rhythm at 96-128px.
Grid & Container
- Page max width 1280px, centered, with 24px gutters that widen at desktop.
- Prose blocks cap at 720px for readability.
- Market tables span full container width; feature blocks use a 12-column grid (3-up desktop, 2-up tablet, stacked mobile).
Whitespace Philosophy
- Whitespace is the brand’s calm. Generous vertical rhythm (96-128px between sections) lets pastel gradient washes breathe behind content without crowding.
- Cards are never wall-to-wall — there’s always lavender-tinted negative space framing them.
Section Cadence
- Hero (gradient wash + 72px headline + dual CTA) → live market metrics → feature trio → trust/security band → footer.
- Each section alternates between pure white and a faint
#f7f6ff/#f1eefflavender background to segment without hard dividers.
6. Shapes & Radius Scale
| Tier | Value | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | 4 | indicators, tiny chips |
| Standard | 8 | tooltips, small controls |
| Comfortable | 12 | inputs, dropdowns |
| Relaxed | 16 | metric cards |
| Featured | 24 | default cards (product hero) |
| Pill | 9999 | all buttons + token pills |
Aave runs soft across the board. The default card radius (24px) is at the upper end of the DeFi range, and buttons go fully pill. There are no sharp corners anywhere in the functional UI — every surface echoes the rounded ghost.
7. Depth & Elevation
| Level | Treatment | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | none | flat sections on white |
| 1 | 0 2px 16px rgba(151,143,255,0.08) | resting cards |
| 2 | 0 12px 32px rgba(151,143,255,0.16) | card hover |
| 3 | 0 8px 28px rgba(151,143,255,0.28) | brand-glow on primary CTA hover |
| 4 | 0 24px 64px rgba(33,29,29,0.18) | modals, wallet sheet |
Shadow Philosophy
Shadows are lavender-tinted, not neutral-grey. Resting elevation is whisper-soft (8% alpha) so cards feel like they float a millimeter above white rather than casting hard depth. The brand-glow on CTA hover is the one place opacity climbs (28%) to make the lavender pill feel reachable. Modals are the only neutral-shadowed surface, using the warm near-black at 18% for a grounded overlay.
8. Interaction & Motion
Easing
- Standard:
cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)— material-style for most transitions. - Emphasized:
cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1)— gentle overshoot for entrances and the ghost mascot’s float.
Durations
- Fast 150ms: hover color/shadow shifts.
- Standard 240ms: dropdowns, card expand, tab switches.
- Slow 360ms: section reveals, modal open.
Per-component micro-states
- Primary CTA: hover → deeper lavender +
translateY(-1px)+ brand-glow (240ms standard). - Card: hover → shadow level 1→2, optional brand-border fade (240ms).
- Metric numerals: count-up animation on scroll-into-view (emphasized, ~800ms once).
- Token selector: 240ms slide-down dropdown with soft fade.
- Ghost mascot: slow idle float (emphasized ease, ~3s loop) — purely decorative.
Page transitions
- Section content fades up 16px on scroll-into-view (emphasized, staggered ~60ms per item).
- Gradient washes shift hue subtly over a long loop — ambient, never attention-grabbing.
Reduced motion
- Respects
prefers-reduced-motion: reduce: count-ups jump to final value, ghost float and gradient drift freeze, fades become instant. No essential information lives in motion.
9. Accessibility & A11y
Computed contrast pairs (from live tokens)
- Text on bg —
#211d1don#ffffff= 16.7:1 (AAA, all sizes). - Near-black on brand —
#211d1don#978fff= 6.1:1 (AA, all sizes). This is the correct primary-button pairing: dark text on lavender. - White on brand —
#ffffffon#978fff= 2.7:1 (fails AA). The live “Download on iOS” pill uses white-on-lavender, which only passes for large/decorative text — for real white-on-purple labels, deepen to#5b4fee(= 5.5:1, AA) or#5448d6(= 6.4:1). - White on dark CTA —
#ffffffon#211d1d= 15:1 (AAA). - Link —
#5b4feeon#ffffff= 5.7:1 (AA).
Focus indicators
- 3px
#978ffffocus ring (orrgba(151,143,255,0.5)outer glow) on all interactive elements. Never remove outline without an equivalent.
ARIA patterns
- Token selectors as
role="combobox"witharia-expanded. - Market table as a real
<table>with scope headers; APY/risk values getaria-labelspelling out the number and unit. - Health-factor color is paired with text/icon so risk isn’t conveyed by color alone.
Keyboard nav
- Full tab order through nav → hero CTA → market rows → footer. Modal/wallet sheet traps focus and restores on close. Esc closes overlays.
Screen reader hints
- Truncated addresses expose the full value via
aria-labeland a copy button. Gradient washes and the ghost mascot arearia-hidden.
Reduced motion
- All count-ups, floats, and gradient drift honor
prefers-reduced-motion: reduce.
10. Responsive Behavior
| Breakpoint | Width | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| mobile | <640 | hero 72→40px, single-column, nav → hamburger, CTAs full-width |
| tablet | 640–1024 | 2-up feature grid, market table scrolls horizontally |
| desktop | 1024–1280 | 3-up grid, full market table, dual-CTA hero |
| wide | >1536 | content caps at 1280, gradient washes extend to viewport edges |
- Touch targets: minimum 44×44px; pill CTAs are comfortably taller on mobile.
- Per-component collapsing: nav center links collapse into a sheet; market table becomes horizontally scrollable cards on mobile; metric cards stack single-column.
- Image / gradient behavior: pastel gradient washes scale to fill but reduce intensity on small screens to preserve text contrast. Ghost mascot shrinks and may drop on the smallest breakpoint.
- Container queries: market-table cells switch from row to stacked label/value layout below a card-width threshold rather than a viewport breakpoint.
11. Content & Voice
Tone
Calm and reassuring. Aave talks like a trustworthy institution that happens to be friendly — plain language about supplying, borrowing, and earning, with zero crypto hype, moon-talk, or urgency theater. Confidence comes from clarity, not exclamation points.
Microcopy patterns
- Primary CTA: “Use Aave” / “Get started” / “Supply” / “Borrow”
- Secondary: “Download on iOS” / “Read the docs” / “View markets”
- Errors: “Insufficient balance to supply” / “Health factor too low to borrow”
- Loading: “Confirming transaction…”
- Success: “Supplied 1,000 USDC — earning 3.2% APY”
Empty states
- Calm and instructive: “No positions yet. Supply an asset to start earning.” — paired with the ghost mascot and a single lavender CTA.
CTA verb conventions
- Use / Supply / Borrow / Earn / Stake / Withdraw — direct financial verbs.
- Avoid: “ape in”, “to the moon”, ”🚀”, urgency countdowns, or any speculative framing. Aave is a money market, not a casino.
12. Dark Mode & Theming
The marketing site (aave.com) is light-only — pure white canvas with the lavender brand and pastel gradient washes. The Aave app (app.aave.com) ships a dark theme: a deep near-black #1b1a1f-class background with the lavender #978fff brand carried through unchanged, and the pastel gradients dimmed to subtle glows. When building a dark variant of this system, keep #978fff as the constant brand anchor, swap white surfaces for warm-dark #1b1a1f/#26242b, lift text to #f5f3f7, and reduce gradient-wash opacity so it reads as ambient light rather than color blocks.
13. Lineage & Influences
Aave began in 2017 as ETHLend, a peer-to-peer lending dApp, before its 2020 rebrand to Aave — Finnish for “ghost” — under founder Stani Kulechov. The rename brought the mascot: a friendly, rounded ghost that signals trust and approachability in a category otherwise dominated by brutalist black-and-blue terminals. The ghost’s lavender-purple #978fff became the brand anchor, extended into pastel gradient washes (pink, peach, mint, sky) that give the marketing site a warm, almost candy register entirely unlike the austere DeFi default.
Typographically, Aave commissioned Aave Repro, a custom low-contrast geometric grotesque, and uses it everywhere from 72px headlines (weight 500) to 13px labels — a single-typeface discipline that keeps the system coherent. The choice to lean soft was strategic: where Compound and Curve courted power-users with dense brutalism, Aave deliberately designed to make a multibillion-dollar money market feel safe enough for first-time depositors. It shares that playful-color-over-brutalism instinct with Uniswap, and borrows gradient-wash-plus-clean-sans fintech polish from the Stripe lineage.
Named influences:
- Stani Kulechov (founder) — ETHLend → Aave 2020 rebrand and the ghost identity
- The Aave ghost mascot — friendly softness defining the lavender register
- Uniswap — DeFi peer that also chose playful color over brutalism
- Compound / Curve — brutalist DeFi peers Aave differentiated against
- Stripe marketing aesthetic — gradient-wash + clean-sans fintech reference
14. Do’s and Don’ts
Do
- Use lavender
#978ffffor the brand pill and accents — it’s the ghost’s color, the single identity anchor. - Pair dark text
#211d1don lavender CTAs (6.1:1, AA) — that’s the correct contrast. - Use the dark
#211d1dpill for high-intent app entry (“Use Aave”). - Set everything in Aave Repro (or system-ui fallback) at weight 500 for display.
- Go pill-radius on every button, 24px on cards.
- Render metrics large (40px display) — APY and TVL are the proof.
- Use pastel gradients as ambient washes only — pink/peach/mint/sky behind heroes.
- Keep the voice calm and reassuring — plain financial language.
- Tint shadows lavender
rgba(151,143,255,…), soft and low-alpha. - Honor
prefers-reduced-motion— freeze the ghost and gradient drift.
Don’t
- Don’t substitute the lavender.
#978fffis the brand, not a generic Tailwind purple. - Don’t put white text on
#978ffffor body-size labels — it fails at 2.7:1. Deepen to#5b4fee+ first. - Don’t mistake “Accept All” for brand. That dark pill is the cookie banner, not a brand CTA.
- Don’t introduce a second typeface. Aave Repro carries the whole system.
- Don’t use sharp corners. Everything echoes the rounded ghost.
- Don’t apply gradient pastels to functional fills — they’re ambient background only.
- Don’t use brutalist DeFi aesthetics — monospace-everywhere, hard black, electric blue. Soft lavender IS Aave.
- Don’t add crypto hype — no “ape in”, rockets, or urgency countdowns.
- Don’t hard-shadow with neutral grey — shadows are lavender-tinted.
- Don’t anthropomorphize the ghost into a hype character — it’s a calm trust signal, used sparingly.
15. Agent Prompt Guide
Quick Color Reference
- bg:
#ffffff - text:
#211d1d - brand (Aave lavender):
#978fff/ hover#857cf5 - brand-deep (white-text-safe):
#5b4fee - dark CTA pill:
#211d1d(white text) - brand-tint (secondary fill):
#ece9ff - gradient pastels: pink
#ffb8e6· peach#ffd6b8· mint#b8f0d6· sky#b8d6ff - border:
#e8e6ec - success
#1bbf8a· danger#f0506e
Example Component Prompts
Build an Aave-style hero: pure white canvas with a soft pastel gradient wash (lavender → pink → sky) drifting behind. 72px Aave Repro weight-500 headline “Earn interest on your crypto” with -0.022em tracking. Below it a dark
#211d1dpill CTA “Use Aave” (white text) next to a lavender#978fffpill “Download on iOS” (dark#211d1dtext). Calm, lots of whitespace.
Design an Aave market table: full-width container, rows of metric cards on
#faf9ff16px-radius surfaces. Each cell: 40px Aave Repro 500 numeral on top (supply APY in green#1bbf8a), 13px muted#5c5658label below. Soft lavender shadow0 2px 16px rgba(151,143,255,0.08).
Render an Aave supply card: white surface, 24px radius, lavender-tinted shadow. Asset row with token pill (
#f1eeffbg, icon + “USDC”), a large 24px right-aligned amount input with a lavender “MAX” ghost button, and a full-width lavender#978fff“Supply” pill CTA with dark text at the bottom.
Build an Aave primary button: lavender
#978ffffill, near-black#211d1d16px Aave Repro 500 label, pill radius, padding 14×28. Hover: bg#857cf5, lift 1px, lavender brand-glow shadow. (If white text is required, deepen fill to#5b4fee.)
Design an Aave dark CTA: near-black
#211d1dpill, white 16px Aave Repro 500 “Use Aave”, padding 14×28, radius 9999. Hover: lighten to#352f2f, scale 1.02.
Create an Aave empty state: centered ghost mascot illustration, 24px Aave Repro 500 “No positions yet”, 16px muted helper line “Supply an asset to start earning”, single lavender
#978fffpill CTA “Supply”.
Iteration Guide
- White canvas + lavender
#978fff+ Aave Repro + the ghost. That quartet is the brand. - Dark text on lavender CTAs (6.1:1) — never white text on
#978ffffor labels. - Two CTA registers: dark
#211d1dpill for app entry, lavender pill for soft asks. Same pill geometry, different intent. - Pill buttons, 24px cards, 12px inputs. Nothing sharp.
- Pastel gradient washes are ambient only — behind heroes, never on functional fills.
- Metrics go large (40px display) — the live market table is the product hero.
- Lavender-tinted soft shadows, low alpha, floating-not-grounded.
- Calm reassuring voice — reject crypto hype, urgency, and brutalist DeFi aesthetics. Soft lavender IS Aave.
Drop aave into your project, then ship the actual sections in an afternoon.
1 · install design
npx @webdesignhot/design-md add aave 2 · ship landing page
npx agentkit init --design aave